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JESUS    CHRIST 
DURING    HIS    MINISTRY 


JESUS   CHRIST: 
His  Person  — His  Authority  — His  Work. 


I.  Jesus  Christ  before  His  Ministry. 

$1.25. 

II.  Jesus    Christ   during   His    Minis- 
try.   $1.25. 

III.  The  Death  and  Resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ.    {In preparation.) 


JESUS  CHRIST 

DURING    HIS    MINISTRY 


BY 

EDMOND   STAFFER 

PROFESSOR    IN    THE    FACULTY    OF     PROTESTANT 
THEOLOGY    AT    PARIS 


^Ttanslattïi  bg 
LOUISE  SEYMOUR  HOUGHTON 


NEW    YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1897 


Copyright,  1897, 
By  Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


Slnfbfrsftg  ^rfas: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


PKEFACE 


T  PROPOSE  ill  the  following  pages  to 
speak  of  Jesus  Christ  during  his  min- 
istry. With  but  rare  exceptions  I  shall 
carefully  banish  from  this  book  all  dis- 
cussion of  the  text,  every  interpretation 
of  it,  theological  or  critical.  I  shall  re- 
late only  established  facts,  or  facts  easy 
to  establish,  and  shall  permit  myself  to 
make  no  conjectures  but  such  as  are 
entirely  plausible.  The  task  as  I  conceive 
it  has  therefore  its  limit;  nevertheless,  it 
is  still  sufficiently  complex  to  forbid  me 
to  embarrass  it  by  the  discussion  of  con- 
troverted passages.  But  wherever  the  fact 
is  certain  and  the  sayings  of  Jesus  perfectly 
authentic,  I  shall  make  use  of  them,  and 
shall  endeavor  to  draw  from  them  all  that 
they  actually  contain. 


VI  PREFACE 

I  would  add  that  I  shall  pass  over  in 
silence  many  details,  which  though  impor- 
tant are  not  essential  to  the  end  which  I 
propose  to  myself. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  indeed,  that  my 
title  is  not  "The  Ministry  of  Jesus  Clirist," 
but  "Jesus  Christ  during  his  Ministry," 
which  is  different.  I  propose,  in  fact,  to 
speak  above  all  things  of  Jesus  himself,  to 
ask  what  he  thought,  what  he  purposed 
to  do,  what  he  professed  to  be,  and,  as 
my  general  title  says,  what  he  said  of  his 
perso7i,  what  authority  he  claimed,  and 
what  work  he  desired  to  do.  I  desire  to 
look  for  nothing  else,  and  to  speak  of 
nothing  else;  and  here,  as  in  my  first 
volume,  I  judge  it  to  be  needless  to  re- 
peat what  the  Gospels  say.  I  shall  par- 
ticularly seek  for  what  they  have  not 
said,  but  in  this  search  I  take  as  point  of 
departure  certain  data  given  by  the  Gospels 
themselves.* 

It  is  therefore  not  my  intention  to  follow 
the  usual  method  of  Lives  of  Jesus,  setting 
forth  the  New  Testament  narratives  in  a 
more    or    less    chronological    order,    and 


PREFACE  vil 

studying  them  critically  and  exegetically. 
I  shall  take  the  Bible  story  as  a  whole, 
and  shall  try  to  draw  from  the  impression 
left  by  reading  it  a  picture  of  the  person 
of  Christ,  and  especially  a  history  of  his 
thought. 

I  shall  touch  upon  the  events  which 
occurred  in  the  life  of  Jesus  only  so  far  as 
they  may  serve  to  throw  light  upon  what 
took  place  in  his  soul. 

In  this,  as  in  the  first  volume,  the  reader 
will  see  that  Jesus  "  destroyed  "  nothing, 
and  that  he  "fulfilled"  all  things.  This 
word  is  the  key  of  many  apparent  enigmas 
and  contradictions.  I  hope  to  show  that 
everything  that  Jesus  said,  did,  thought, 
and  preached  had  its  roots  in  the  past,  and 
by  a  slow  and  sure  evolution  was  made  by 
him  entirely  new. 

One  word  more:  In  writing  this  book 
I  would  not  forget  that  the  moral  and 
religious  life  is  not  to  be  studied  as  natural 
history  is  studied,  that  a  simple  statement 
of  facts  does  not  explain  everything,  and 
that  the  methods  which  lead  to  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  spiritual  world  can  by  no 


■VIU  PREFACE 

means  be  the  same  as  those  which  lead  to  a 
knowledge  of  the  world  of  nature.  Here 
as  elsewhere  the  saying  of  Pascal  is  true  : 
"The  heart  has  its  reasoning  which  the 
reason  knows  nothing  of  ;  "  and  the  soul 
may  have  intuitions  of  the  true  which 
objective  observation  will  forever  fall 
short  of  giving  to  the  learned. 


CONTENTS 


Page 

Preface     v 

Introduction ^i 

Chapter 

I,    The  Earlier  Activity  of  Jesus  »  3 

II.     The  Language  of  Jesus      ...  20 

III.  The  Earliest  Teachings  of  Jesus  39 

IV.  The  Messiah  and  his  Work    .     .  59 
V.    Jesus  and  Miracles 76 

VI.    Earliest  Preaching  of  Jesus  on 

THE  Kingdom  op  God  ....  96 
Vn.     The   Kingdom    prepared   for   by 

THE  Lowly  and  the  Poor  .     .  Ill 

VIII.    Journeys  to  Jerusalem  .     .     .     .  128 

IX.     Opposition  to  Jesus 143 

X.     Institution  of  the  Apostolate  .  159 

XI.     The  Summer  of  the  Year  29.     .  177 


X  CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

XII.     Final  Departure  for  Jerusalem     197 

XIII.  The  Names  assumed  by  Jesus     .     221 

XIV.  The  Requirements  of  Jesus  .     .     238 

Conclusion 261 


INTRODUCTION 

THE   SOUKCES   OF   THE   LIEE   OF  JESUS 

n^HE  earliest  information  about  Jesus 
which  we  have  is  given  us  by  St. 
Paul.  His  name  is  continually  repeated 
in  the  few  letters  of  the  apostle  which 
have  come  down  to  us,  and  Paul  appears 
to  have  been  very  precisely  informed  upon 
the  principal  events  in  the  life  of  his 
Master.  Had  he  known  him  personally? 
It  can  hardly  be  supposed  ;  but  it  is  highly 
possible  that  he  had  seen  him,  and  often 
seen  him,  walking  in  the  porticos  of  the 
Temple  ;  perhaps  he  had  heard  him  replying 
to  the  Pharisees  when  he  himself,  a  young 
and  high-spirited  disciple  of  Gamaliel,  was 
carrying  on  his  studies  in  Jerusalem. 

However    this    may   have    been,     Paul 

counted  among  his  intimate  friends  men 

who  had  lived  in  Jesus'  company,  Barnabas  ^ 

and  Silas, 2  for  example,  and  in  the  earlier 

1  Acts  iv.  36,  etc.  2  Acts  xv.  22. 


Xii  INTRODUCTION 

days  John  surnamed  Mark,^  who  later 
became  the  companion  of  Peter. 

Paul  had  also  spent  a  fortnight  at  Jeru- 
salem with  Peter  and  James  ;  ^  he  had  had 
the  opportunity  of  receiving  from  their 
lips  many  details  of  the  life  of  Christ,  and 
he  certainly  had  done  so.  We  know  that 
Paul  narrated  the  life  of  Jesus  in  his 
churches,  and  in  particular  that  he  de- 
scribed his  Passion  in  such  moving  terms 
that  it  seemed  as  if  Jesus  were  crucified 
anew  before  his  hearers.^  He  also  de- 
scribed the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  —  we 
know  with  what  power  and  what  insist- 
ence* More  than  this,  his  letters  abound 
in  allusions  to  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  con- 
cerning marriage,^  for  example,  or  the 
Lord's  Supper,^  or  mere  citations  of  the 
Master's  precepts.'^ 

Taken  as  a  whole  the  testimony  of  St. 
Paul  gives  a  very  accurate,  very  clear, 
and  very  lifelike  portrait  of  Jesus.  The 
principal  features  of  his  life  are  brought 
out  by  the  apostle,  and  his  allusions  con- 

1  Acts  xii.  12,  25.  2  Gal.  i.  18,  19. 

*  Gal.  iii.  1.  *  1  Cor.  xv.  and  passim. 

6  1  Cor.  vii.  10  f.  ^  1  Cor.  xi.  23  ff. 

^  See  also  Acts  xx.  35. 


INTR  OD  UCT  ION  xiii 

firm  in  advance  that  whicli  the  Gospels 
say  at  a  later  day. 

This,  in  a  few  words,  is  what  Paul  gives 
us  to  know  about  Jesus:  his  birth,  his 
Davidic  origin,  the  time  of  his  appearing, 
which  was  that  determined  by  God,  the 
humility  of  his  earthly  condition,  his  per- 
fect holiness,  his  Messianic  dignity,  the 
character  of  his  life  :  perfect  fulfilment  of 
the  will  of  God;  that  of  his  mission:  to 
preach,  himself,  to  the  people  of  Israel 
only,  and  to  leave  instructions  for  the  fu- 
ture with  twelve  apostles,  by  them  making 
the  gift  of  his  Gospel  to  all  men  ;  his  death 
upon  the  cross,  which  is  the  seal  of  the 
new  covenant;  the  circumstances  accom- 
panying his  death:  the  last  supper;  the 
institution  of  the  Holy  Communion;  the 
betrayal  by  Judas  ;  finally  the  resurrection 
on  the  third  day;  the  order  of  the  appear- 
ances of  the  Risen  Lord,  concluding  with 
his  life  in  heaven  with  God,  whence  he 
shall  return  to  judgment.  It  is  evident  that 
in  the  details  given  and  the  allusions  here 
and  there  made  by  St.  Paul,  nothing  essen- 
tial is  lacking  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ. 

After  St.  Paul  we  must  cite  as  among 
the   most  ancient  documents    the  earlier 


Xiv  INTROD  UCT  ION 

chapters  of  the  book  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  Not  that  this  book  was  written 
at  an  early  date  ;  at  earliest  it  was  hardly 
written  before  the  year  80;  but  in  the 
beginning  of  his  narrative  Luke,  who  is  its 
author,  gives  a  picture  of  the  first  Church 
in  Jerusalem,  —  a  Church  composed  of 
ocular  witnesses  of  the  earthly  work  of 
Jesus,  his  immediate  disciples,  who  in 
the  words  they  utter  recall  the  essential 
features  of  their  Master's  life. 

The  discourses  of  Peter,  especially,  are 
extremely  important.  In  them  we  see 
what  was  the  Gosj^el  of  the  earliest  days  ; 
when  the  apostle  speaks  of  Jesus  Christ 
we  have  the  witness  of  the  disciple  to  his 
Lord  given  only  a  few  weeks  after  his 
death.  He  pictures  Jesus  as  a  just  man, 
approved  of  God  and  men,  the  servant  of 
Jehovah,  preaching  the  Good  Tidings, 
healing  the  sick,  going  about  doing  good, 
choosing  twelve  apostles.^ 

He  also  .narrates  his  death,  with  the 
betrayal  by  Judas,  the  special  guilt  of  the 
Sadducees  in  forcing  Pilate's  consent, 
the  accusation  brought  against  the  Christ 
of  having  wished  to  destroy  the  Temple 
1  Acts  ii.  22  £f.  ;  iii.  13  ff.  ;  iv.  10  ff. 


INTR  OD  UCT  ION  XV 

and  abrogate  the  Law,  his  resurrection  on 
the  third  day,  the  preaching  of  remission 
of  sins  through  his  name,  —  all  this 
expressed  with  a  grand  simplicity  which 
inspires  confidence.  The  narratives  with 
which  the  Book  of  the  Acts  opens  give 
us  the  primitive  Gospel,  that  of  the  oral 
tradition;  they  have  an  unmistakable 
stamp  of  originality,  and  are  of  priceless 
value  to  the  historian. 

But  it  is  very  evident  that  if  we  knew 
nothing  more  about  Jesus  than  this,  his 
person  and  work  would  remain  almost 
unknown  to  us.  Neither  the  Jews  nor 
the  Gentiles  of  his  day  wrote  of  him.  The 
Talmud  mentions  his  name,  it  is  true,  and 
even  assumes  to  narrate  his  trial  ;  but  the 
story  merits  no  credit,  being  only  a  tissue 
of  falsehoods  dictated  by  hatred.  ^  Yet  it 
serves  to  confirm  the  fact  that  Jesus  with- 
stood the  legalism  and  formalism  of  his 
people,  and  attacked  the  traditional  pre- 
cepts of  the  Pharisees. 

As  for  Gentile  writings,  Suetonius,  in  an 
inexact  and  insignificant  passage,  mentions 
Jesus  Christ  under  the  name  Chrestus;^ 

1  Jerus.  Talm.  Sanh.  14,  16;  Babyl.  Sank.  43  a,  67  a. 

2  Life  of  Claudius,  §  16. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

Tacitus,  somewhat  more  explicit,  ^  speaks 
of  "Christ  who  was  put  to  death  under 
Tiberius,  by  the  order  of  Pontius  Pilate, 
and  whose  detestable  superstition  has 
spread  everywhere  abroad,  even  unto 
Rome."  Finally,  the  younger  Pliny,  early 
in  the  second  century,  describes  in  a  letter 
to  Trajan  2  the  assemblies  of  Christians  in 
his  province,  saying  that  they  sing  hymns, 
"speaking  to  Christ  as  to  a  God."  All 
these  insignificant  facts,  which  we  mention 
only  for  the  sake  of  completeness,  teach 
us  nothing  about  Jesus  Christ  which  we 
did  not  already  know  ;  and,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  Gospels  are  the  only  true 
source  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 

Let  us  endeavor  to  describe  how  they 
were  written,  and  say  what  degree  of  con- 
fidence we  may  accord  to  them.  If  we 
study  them  attentively,  collecting  the  tes- 
timony of  the  oldest  Fathers  of  the  Church 
concerning  the  writings  of  the  apostolic 
epoch,  the  following  is  what  we  shall 
discover  :  — 

The  first  disciple  of  Jesus  who  to  our 
knowledge^  concerned  himself  with  put- 

1  Annals,  xv.  44.       ^  Correspondence,  10,  96. 

'  "  To  our  knowledge,"  because  a  great  number  of 


INTR  on  UCT  I  ON-  x  vii 

ting  into  writing  his  Master's  words,  is  the 
apostle  Matthew.  Between  the  years  50 
and  60  he  composed  a  collection  of  the 
disconrses,  sayings,  and  parables  of  Jesus, 
writing  it  in  the  Aramaic  tongue,  that  is, 
in  the  very  language  in  which  Jesus  spoke. 
Matthew's  collection  was  several  times 
translated  into  Greek  with  many  altera- 
tions, but  none  of  importance.  This 
primitive  writing  by  Matthew,  that  is,  the 
collection  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  in 
Aramaic,  no  longer  exists. 

About  ten  years  after  Matthew,  between 
60  and  70,  a  disciple  of  Peter,  John  sur- 
named  Mark,  who  served  him  as  inter- 
preter, wrote  a  summary  of  the  preachings 
of  that  apostle.  This  writing  still  exists 
just  as  Mark  composed  it  ;  it  is  our  second 
Gospel.  It  is  true  that  some  critics  hold 
that  ours  is  only  a  second  recension,  differ- 
ing somewhat  from  the  original.  But 
this  hypothesis  is  not  indispensable,  and  it 
is  probable  that  it  is  the  very  text  of  Mark 
which  we  have  before  us.  Later  appeared 
a  Gospel  which  also  has  been  preserved, 
which   we   have   in  our   New  Testament, 

gospels  were  written  in  the  first  century,  all  except 
four  being  lost. 

b 


Xviii  INTRODUCTION- 

which  we  call  the  Gospel  according  to  St. 
Matthew,  and  whose  true  author  is 
unknown. 

This  is  how  this  author  composed  his 
book.  He  took  one  of  the  Greek  transla- 
tions of  Matthew's  collection  of  discourses, 
and  also  the  summary  of  Peter's  preaching 
which  Mark  had  made,  and  combining 
these  two  documents  he  produced  our 
first  Gospel.  Here  and  there  he  added 
what  he  had  learned  from  oral  tradition; 
for  example,  the  manner  of  Jesus'  coming 
into  the  world,  his  genealogy,  his  birth, 
the  visit  of  the  Wise  Men;  the  opening 
chapters  of  his  book  ;  and  a  few  other  facts 
scattered  through  the  body  of  the  work, 
which  he  alone  relates.^  The  author  had 
a  well-defined  purpose  in  writing  this 
Gospel  :  to  prove  that  Jesus  Christ  fulfilled 
the  prophecies  relating  to  the  Messiah, 
and  realized  the  promises  made  to  the 
Jews  in  the  Old  Testament. 

About-  the  same  period,  a  little  after 
70  A.D.,  Luke  composed  the  third  of  the 
Gospels  which  we  have  in  the  New  Testa- 

^  For  example,  the  miracle  of  the  stater,  xvii.  24- 
27;  the  resurrection  of  the  saints  at  the  time  of 
Jesus'  death,  xxvii.  52,  53. 


INTRODUCTION  XIX 

ment.  This  document,  as  we  have  it,  has 
"undergone  no  retouching.  In  writing  it 
Luke  had  before  him  several  narratives  of 
the  life  of  Jesus.  As  a  foundation  he  too 
made  use  of  one  of  the  Greek  translations 
of  Matthew's  collection  of  the  discourses, 
though  not  the  one  made  use  of  by  the 
author  of  the  first  Gospel,  and  differing 
somewhat  from  that  one.  He  also  took 
advantage  of  the  Gospel  by  Mark.  In  the 
third  place  he  had  at  hand  a  collection 
made  at  a  date  unknown  to  us,  including 
a  number  of  words  and  deeds  of  Jesus 
during  one  or  more  journeys  between 
Galilee  and  Judea,  and  of  which  the 
writers  of  the  first  two  Gospels  had  no 
knowledge.  This  narrative  of  the  travels 
of  Jesus  Christ  was  utilized  by  Luke  from 
verse  51  of  chapter  ix.  to  verse  28  of 
chapter  xix. 

Luke  had  still  other  sources  at  his  dis- 
posal. Such  were  the  accounts  of  the 
Passion  of  Jesus  Christ  which  he  heard 
Paul  give  when  he  accompanied  him  on  his 
missionary  travels,  and  a  collection  by 
himself  of  Aramgean  traditions  concerning 
the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist  and  of  Jesus 
Christ. 


XX  INTRODUCTION 

Such  is  the  origin  of  our  first  three 
Gospels. 

To  find  the  most  authentic  accounts  of 
Jesus  Christ  we  must  first  turn  to  the 
Gospel  by  Mark:  it  is  the  oldest;  it 
should  be  the  fundamental  basis  of  every 
orderly  narrative  of  the  ministry  of  Jesus. 
The  facts  he  gives  should  take  precedence 
on  all  accounts.  The  Gospel  of  Mark  is 
more  impersonal  than  those  of  Matthew 
and  Luke.  While  these  have  each  their 
own  purpose,  and  pursue  it,  Mark  has  no 
other  aim  but  to  relate  what  he  remembers, 
and  he  gives  the  facts  in  chronological 
order.  His  Gospel  is  consequently  a  true 
drama,  the  drama  of  the  life  of  the  misun- 
derstood and  murdered  Messiah.  There 
is  no  digression,  no  delay,  no  pause.  All 
is  animated,  simple,  natural.  Mark  neither 
interprets  facts  nor  accounts  for  them  ;  he 
shows  them.  Therefore  is  this  admirable 
document  not  simply  the  oldest  Gospel; 
it  is  at  the  same  time  the  surest,  the  most 
faithful,  the  most  exact.  But  it  is  incom- 
plete, and  the  critic  must  complete  it  with 
the  aid  of  the  other  two  Synoptics. 

In  this  work  his  first  care  should  be  to 
compare  Matthew  and   Luke,  seeking  all 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

that  tliey  have  preserved  to  us  of  the 
collection  of  discourses  made  by  the  apostle 
Matthew.  In  fact,  we  find  in  our  first 
and  third  Gospels  the  substance  of  the 
words  of  Jesus  collected  by  Matthew,  since 
each  of  the  authors  had  before  him  a  Greek 
translation  of  this  collection. 

This,  therefore,  is  the  most  authentic 
common  foundation,  the  solid  base  of 
what  we  most  certainly  know  about  Jesus 
Christ. 

Where  the  three  accounts  differ  we 
must  choose  between  them,  always  seeking 
the  eldest  text,  a  critical  work  of  by  no 
means  insurmountable  difficulty.  Here 
the  duty  of  the  historian  is  to  eliminate 
suspicious  traditions,  all  that  betrays  a 
tendency  foreign  to  strict  historic  verity, 
as,  for  example,  the  injunctions  which 
arise  from  doctrinal  prepossessions.  This 
work  done,  we  must  determine  the  frame- 
work of  Jesus  Christ's  ministry,  and  make 
clear  the  order  of  the  facts.  It  would  be 
utterly  impossible  to  perform  this  task  if 
we  had  not  the  fourth  Gospel,  and  here  is 
the  great  usefulness,  let  us  rather  say,  the 
unequalled  value  of  the  account  of  the  life 
of  Jesus  of  which  it  yet  remains  to  speak. 


xxii  IN  TE  on  UCT  I  ON 

With  regard  to  the  fourth  Gospel,  as 
with  regard  to  the  first  three,  historical 
criticism  has  arrived  at  nearly  definitive 
results. 

It  is  impossible  to  misapprehend  the 
unhistorical  character  of  this  book.  We 
mean  by  this  that  the  author  deliberately 
sets  aside  a  great  number  of  important 
events,  and  that  his  intention  is  not  to 
give  us  a  biography  of  Jesus  Christ,  but 
to  prove  that  Jesus  was  verily  the  Word 
made  flesh,  or,  as  he  himself  said,  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God.^  It  results  from 
this  that  his  account  is  quite  fragmentary, 
and  tinctured  with  theological  considera- 
tions completely  foreign  to  the  history. 
This  is  an  incontestable  fact,  which  should 
be  recognized  by  every  one. 

The  fourth  Gospel,  then,  cannot  serve 
as  a  basis  for  the  study  of  Jesus  Christ's 
ministry,  and  this  is  why  we  began  by 
speaking  of  the  first  three.  They  alone 
give  us  a!  solid  preliminary  standpoint. 

But  we  have  also  to  find  a  standpoint 

in   the   fourth    Gospel.     All  has    by    no 

means  been  said  when  it  is  said  that  this 

writing  may  not  be  taken  for  a  complete 

^  John  XX.  31. 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

narrative  of  the  life  of  Jesus;  it  remains 
to  point  out  its  Iiigh  documentary  value. 

Side  by  side  with  the  general  unhistoric 
character  which  it  presents  to  the  impartial 
reader,  another  not  less  indisputable  fact 
remains  in  our  opinion  to  be  recognized; 
that  is,  that  the  author  lived  in  intimate 
association  with  an  ocular  witness  of  the 
life  of  Jesus,  —  a  witness  who  felt  himself 
to  be  of  such  authority  as  to  give  a  differ- 
ent account  from  that  of  the  first  three 
evangelists,  whose  books  he  perfectly  well 
knew,  of  sufficient  authority  to  correct 
them,  and  put  forth  assertions  which  com- 
pleted, rectified,  and  sometimes  contra- 
dicted theirs.  The  author  of  the  fourth 
Gospel  knows  to  their  minutest  details  a 
great  number  of  perfectly  certain,  entirely 
authentic  facts  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  of 
which  the  authors  of  the  first  three  narra- 
tives were  entirely  ignorant. 

More  than  this  :  with  regard  to  the  two 
critical  moments  in  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  revulsion  of  popular  feeling  after  the 
multiplication  of  the  loaves,  and  his  death 
upon  the  cross,  this  author  is  at  one  with 
the  first  three  evangelists,  confirming  and 
completing  them.    And,  finally,  the  outline 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION 

of  the  life  of  Jesus  which  he  gives  is  much 
better  than  theirs.  They  mention  only- 
one  journey  of  Jesus  Christ  to  Jerusalem, 
which  is  more  than  unlikely,  which  is  im- 
possible. The  author  of  the  fourth  Gos- 
pel parts  company  with  them  at  this  point, 
mentioning  several  such  journeys,  because 
he  is  more  accurate  and  knows  the  facts 
better. 

For  this  reason  the  fourth  Gospel  is  full 
of  personal  recollections  whose  character 
it  is  impossible  to  mistake.  To  take  only 
a  single  example,  its  account  of  the 
Passion  is  the  most  vivid  of  the  four,  and 
among  other  details  of  marvellous  truth  the 
character  of  Pilate  is  admirably  brought  out. 

It  seems  to  us  impossible  to  deny  the 
fact  that  the  ocular  witness  of  whom  we 
speak  can  be  no  other  than  an  apostle,  and 
this  apostle  no  other  than  John.  If  the 
form  given  to  the  discourses  of  Jesus  is 
peculiar  to  the  author  of  this  book,  and  if 
the  fourth  Gospel  abounds  in  theological 
deductions  which  can  be  nothing  other 
than  the  evangelist's  own  reflections  and 
not  the  authentic  words  of   Jesus,  ^  there 

1  It  is  to  be  observed  that,  in  the  first  century,  an 
author  writing  the  life  of  any  one  not  only  put  into 


INTRODUCTION  XXV 

are  also  many  utterances  put  into  the 
mouth  of  the  Christ  which  are  certainly 
quite  as  historical  as  those  which  the  first 
three  evangelists  attribute  to  him,  and 
which  bear  the  inimitable  stamp  of  the 
authentic  words  of  the  Lord. 

Therefore  this  book,  which  is  not  a  life 
of  Jesus  Christ  (it  is  at  once  too  dogmatic 
and  too  fragmentary  for  that),  is  neverthe- 
less a  very  accurate  document,  and  must 
be  consulted  by  those  who  would  under- 
stand the  life  of  Jesus.  It  may  even  be 
said  that  upon  many  essential  points  it  is 
by  much  the  most  accurate  of  the  four. 
Only  the  authority  of  an  apostle  can  be 
the  basis  of  a  book  which,  when  it  appeared, 
differed  so  widely  from  the  first  three 
Gospels  already  received  by  the  Church, 
accepted  as  true,  consecrated  by  piety,  and 
which  parted  company  from  them  so 
entirely.  1 

his  mouth  what  he  had  really  said,  but  what  he  might 
have  said  ;  and  the  words  which  the  author  was  con- 
vinced that  he  might  have  uttered  were  considered 
quite  as  authentic  as  if  he  had  really  spoken  thera. 

^  The  proofs  of  the  historicity  of  the  fourth  Gospel 
so  far  as  the  last  week  and  the  Passion  are  concerned, 
are  of  altogether  convincing  force.  Jesus  names  him- 
self to   the  soldiers  who   have  come  to  arrest  him. 


XXvi  INTRODUCTION 

Who,  then,  is  the  author  of  the  fourth 
Gospel?  Let  us  ask  the  book  itself.  It 
replies  clearly  that  he  draws  very  imme- 
diately from  St.  John,  but  is  not  St.  John. 
When  he  speaks  of  the  "beloved  disciple," 
he  speaks  in  the  third  person.  Of  course 
this  might  be  only  a  literary  form.  Anti- 
quity affords  us  a  well-known  example. 
The  Commentaries  of  Julius  Csesar  were 
written  by  Csesar  himself,  and  nowhere 
does  he  designate  himself  by  the  pronoun 
of  the  first  person.  But  the  system  adopted 
by  the  writer  of  the  fourth  Gospel  is  very 

Judas  goes  out  from  the  upper  chamber  after  re- 
ceiving the  sop,  etc.  The  Gospel  clears  up  many 
seeming  improbabilities  in  the  Synoptic  account. 
John  states  that  Jesus  died  on  the  very  day  when  the 
paschal  lamb  was  eaten;  so  does  tlie  Talmud  ("the 
eve  of  Pasca,"  Babyl.  Sank.  43a,  67a).  He  says  noth- 
ing of  the  payment  of  money  to  Judas.  With  regard 
to  the  six  months  before  the  Passion,  John  alone  is 
well  informed.  He  shows  the  death  of  Jesus  as 
already  resolved  upon  in  the  month  of  February  or 
March  (xi.  53,  54);  at  that  time  Jesus  retires  to 
Ephraim,  the  qrder  for  his  arrest  is  given  (xi.  55,  56). 
The  Synoptics  know  nothing  of  all  this.  Finally  and 
especially  the  fact  that  immediately  after  his  arrest 
Jesus  was  led  to  Annas  (xviii.  13),  who,  as  we  know, 
had  a  house  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  is  the  strongest 
possible  proof  of  the  historic  value  of  the  fourth 
Gospel  (cf.  Kenan,  Vie  de  Jésus,  1st  edition,  p. 
394.) 


INTRODUCTION  XXVii 

different,  for  not  simply  does  he  never  speak 
of  John  except  in  the  third  person,  he  is 
careful  to  distinguish  himself  from  him  ;  he 
speaks  of  John  without  ever  naming  him, 
and  always  in  terms  of  eulogy;  he  desig- 
nates him  with  veiled  expressions  and  in 
terms  of  invariable  admiration:  it  is  evi- 
dent that  he  is  tenderly  attached  to  him. 
He  brings  out  John's  superiority,  and  the 
peculiar  affection  of  Jesus  for  him.  The 
apostle  John,  writing  for  himself,  would 
not  thus  have  written  about  himself;  and 
yet  all  that  we  have  said  of  the  Johannine 
origin  of  the  fourth  Gospel  remains.  One 
solution  alone  is  possible,  —  this  book  was 
written  by  a  disciple  of  St.  John  who 
drew  his  inspiration  from  his  master. 
We  may  almost  say  that  the  fourth  Gos- 
pel was  composed  in  collaboration  by  the 
apostle  John  and  one  of  his  disciples  who 
acted  as  penman;  and  just  as  he  has 
nowhere  written  his  master's  name,  he 
has  nowhere  made  an  error,  and  this  book 
has  nothing  in  common  with  what  is  called 
a  pseudepigraph. 

We  have  one  proof  of  this  assertion  in  a 
fact  which  it  is  impossible  to  contest.  It 
is  universally  admitted  that  chapter  xxi. 


XXviii  INTR  OD  UCTION 

was  added  to  the  Gospel  after  its  comple- 
tion and  even  after  St.  John's  death. 
Now,  the  style  of  this  appendix  —  which 
in  any  case  is  not  that  of  St.  John,  since 
it  was  written  after  his  death  —  is  pre- 
cisely the  same  as  that  of  the  Gospel.  It 
is  by  the  same  writer;  then  this  writer 
not  being  John  for  the  twenty-first  chapter 
is  also  not  John  for  the  first  twenty 
chapters.  The  appendix  was  added  by  the 
disciple  who,  a  little  while  before,  had 
written  the  Gospel  under  the  direction  of 
the  apostle.  This  appears  to  us  incon- 
testable. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  also  that  the  Gospel 
of  John  was  thought  in  Hebrew,  that  the 
construction  of  the  sentences  is  entirely 
Hebraic.  We  may  therefore  admit  that 
we  have  an  almost  literal  translation,  made 
by  him  who  held  the  pen  while  the  apostle 
spoke  to  him  in  Aramaic.  There  was  a 
duahty  of  authorship,  —  a  duality  which 
is  indeed  .betrayed  by  the  pronoun  in 
the  first  person  plural,  here  and  there 
employed. 

More  than  this,  the  writer-secretary  from 
time  to  time  introduces  his  own  reflections. 
For  example  he  says  :  "  He  that  hath  seen 


INTRODUCTION  xxix 

hath  borne  witness,  and  his  witness  is 
true;  and  he  knoweth  that  he  saith  true, 
that  ye  also  may  believe."^  That  is  to 
sa}'",  "  John  attested  what  he  saw  when  he 
related  to  me  the  death  upon  the  cross,  and 
now  he  knows  that  his  attestation  is  true  ; 
I  hear  him  saying  so  at  the  moment  when 
I  am  writing  these  lines."  This  is  evi- 
dently a  personal  reflection  of  the  writer,  a 
writer  who  is  not  "he  that  hath  seen." 

This  literary  method  of  a  book  written 
by  two  people  appears  at  first  strange.  It 
is  not  in  the  least  so,  if  we  put  ourselves 
back  in  the  time  of  the  apostles.  They, 
especially  Peter  and  John,  must  have  been 
very  ill  versed  in  Greek,  if  indeed  they  so 
much  as  knew  a  word  of  it.  But  if  they 
wrote  epistles  or  gospels,  they  could  pub- 
lish them  only  in  Greek.  If  they  had 
written  them  in  their  mother  tongue,  their 
books  would  not  have  been  widely  scat- 
tered, and  they  would  have  been  lost,  as 
Matthew's  collection  of  the  sayings  of 
Jesus  was  lost.  They  therefore  took  col- 
laborators, aids,  secretaries.  Peter,  who 
had  John  Mark  for  interpreter,  had  also 
Silas,  and  caused  Silas  to  write  his  epistle. 

1  John  xix.  35. 


XXX  INTRODUCTION 

He  says  it  in  so  many  words. ^  In  the 
same  way  John,  having  to  write  a  gospel, 
acquitted  himself  of  his  task  as  he  could, 
giving  the  facts  to  a  secretary  who  assur- 
edly was  not  chosen  at  hap-hazard,  and 
who  made  admirable  use  of  what  the 
aj)ostle  related  to  him. 

To  return  now  to  the  question  which  we 
have  put  to  ourselves:  How  may  we 
reconstruct  the  outline  of  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  Christ?  Three  Paschal  feasts  were 
celebrated  in  the  course  of  it,^  and  it  must 
therefore  have  occupied  two  and  a  half 
years.  If  nsxt  we  attempt  to  put  the 
events  in  their  proper  dates  and  to  show  a 
progress,  a  development,  in  the  ministry 
of  Jesus  Christ,  we  must  still  address  our- 
selves to  the  fourth  Gospel. 

The  first  three  group  the  facts  without 
the  slightest  hint  of  progress  or  develop- 
ment; but,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  in 
them,  especially  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark, 
notes  of  time  which  grow  out  of  the  nature 
of  the  events,  and  these  indications  of 
time  impress  themselves  upon  the  reader 
all  the  more  strongly  because  the  Evan- 

1  1  Pet.  V.  12.  2  John  ii.  23  ;  vi.  4  ;  xiii.  1. 


INTRODUCTION  XXXI 

gelists  had  no  thought  of  indicating  them, 
and  were  themselves  not  aware  of  them. 

Thus  there  is  a  moment  in  Jesus  Christ's 
ministry — a  "turning-point,"  as  the  Ger- 
mans say  —  which  marias  very  nearly  the 
middle  of  his  public  life,  and  which  is 
indicated  in  all  the  four  Gospels.^  It  is 
the  moment  when  the  people  turn  away 
from  Jesus  Christ,  when  he  loses  the 
popularity  which  up  to  that  time  he  had 
enjoyed.  It  is  precisely  a  year  before  his 
death;  for  this  event  followed  the  multi- 
plication of  the  loaves,  which  St.  John 
expressly  places  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
Passover  which  can  only  have  been  that 
of  the  year  29.  ^ 

Consequently,  the  ministry  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  to  be  divided  into  three  parts; 
or,  more  correctly  speaking,  there  are 
three  periods  of  undeniable  authenticity 
in  the  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ, — 

I.  The  Galilean  Ministry  (preaching  of 
the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom;  the  Beati- 
tudes ;  the  visit  to  Nazareth  ;  the  parables 

1  Matt.  xvi.  ;  Mark  viii.  ;  Luke  ix.  ;  John  vi. 

2  "  Can  only  have  been,"  on  the  supposition  that 
Jesus  was  crucified  in  the  year  30,  —  a  very  possible 
date,  but  concerning  the  accuracy  of  which  a  degree 
of  doubt  exists. 


XXxii  INTRODUCTION 

of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ;  teachings  and 
cures).  This  first  period  is  characterized 
by  the  lively  enthusiasm  which  Jesus 
inspired,  and  the  great  popularity  which 
he  enjoyed.  His  ministry  opened  in  hope 
and  joy.  He  was  encircled  with  universal 
sympathy.  He  went  up  and  down  the 
country  performing  mii-acles  of  benevo- 
lence, attacking  the  official  representatives 
of  the  theocracy;  and  the  multitudes 
approved.  He  replied  to  the  messengers 
of  John  the  Baptist,  and  pronounced  upon 
him  a  decisive  judgment.  He  proclaimed 
the  freedom  of  the  conscience.  This 
period  terminates  with  the  discourse 
known  as  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  in 
which  are  collected  a  large  proportion  of 
the  discourses  spoken  during  this  time.  The 
choice  of  the  twelve  apostles  marks  its  close. 
II.  The  second  period  of  Jesus'  ministry 
now  opens.  It  began  with  the  open  hos- 
tility of  the  Pharisees,  who  accuse  him  of 
casting  out  demons  by  Beelzebub.  Jesus 
in  his  turn  rebukes  the  Pharisees,  and 
parts  company  with  them.  Soon  the 
people  also  cease  to  understand  him,  and 
abandon  him.  By  one  of  those  changes  of 
mood  common  to  crowds,  a  reaction  takes 


INT  ROD  UC  TION  XXXlll 

place.  The  popularity  of  Jesus  suddenly 
wanes.  The  people  accuse  him  of  having  tri- 
fled with  their  Messianic  hopes.  This  crisis 
occurs  precisely  a  year  before  Jesus'  death. 
This  second  period  is  better  known  than 
the  preceding  one,  —  that  of  favor  and 
success,  which  is  somewhat  enshrouded  in 
obscurity  and  hesitation.  These  are  its 
principal  events:  Jesus  publicly  breaks 
with  the  Jewish  Messianic  hopes  ;  learning 
of  the  death  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  feel- 
ing himself  watched  by  Herod,  he  retires 
into  solitude,  and  begins  his  ministry  of 
wandering,  often  going  beyond  the  limits 
of  Herod's  territory  (Tyre,  Sidon,  Cœsarea 
Philippi),  and  entering  upon  a  life  of 
greater  intimacy  with  his  apostles.  This 
second  period  closes  with  the  confession  of 
Peter,  and  the  first  prediction  of  his  own 
nearly  approaching  death  by  violence. 
These  are  the  facts,  the  exterior  events. 
To  these  exterior  events  correspond  interior 
events  in  the  soul  of  Jesus.  The  convic- 
tion dawns  upon  him  that  his  work  is  not 
to  be  accomplished  by  words  and  miracles, 
and  that  his  death  is  probably  necessary 
to  the  coming  of  the  kingdom.  We  say 
probably,  for  even  while  affirming  that  his 


XXXIV  INTRODUCTION 

death  was  inevitable  he  hoped  to  the  end 
that  his  Father  would  spare  him  this  sacri- 
fice. But  he  clearly  saw  that  the  conver- 
sion of  his  people  was  not  to  be  secured 
simply  by  the  means  which  up  to  this  time 
he  had  employed.  He  was  obliged  to  give 
up  the  hope  of  accomplishing  the  pure 
spiritualization  of  Judaism  as  certain  of  the 
Pharisees  understood  it.  He  himself  gave 
up  his  Judaism,  and  became  in  the  most 
absolute  sense  unsectarian.  He  was  no 
longer  to  be  simply  the  spiritual  and  moral 
Messiah  who  was  born  in  the  days  of  the 
temptation  in  the  desert;  he  was  to  be  the 
suffering  Messiah,  sealing  his  work  by 
martyi'dom.  His  death  was  to  precede  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom,  which  he  still 
continued  to  proclaim  near  at  hand. 

in.  The  third  period  may  be  entitled 
The  Final  Struggle  and  the  Last  Week.^ 
We  shall  study  it  in  our  third  volume.  It 
is  the  best-known  period  of  Jesus'  life. 
The  light 'which  authentic  documents  shed 
upon  his  life,  a  light  which  from  the  begin- 
ning grows  ever  stronger,  is  for  these  last 
days  as  perfect  as  could  be  desired. 

^  Matt,  xx.-xxviii.;  Mark  x.-xvi.  ;  Luke  ix.  53- 
xxiv.  ;  John  vii.-xx. 


JESUS  CHRIST 

HIS  PERSON,  HIS   AUTHORITY,   HIS 
WORK 


Part  Secanb 

JESUS  CHRIST  DURING  HIS  MINISTRY 


CHAPTER   I 

THE   EAELIER   ACTIVITY   OF   JESUS 

/^UR  first  volume  brought  events  down 
^"^  to  the  time  when  Jesus,  at  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  began  his  ministry. 
Still  thrilling  through  and  through  with 
the  burning  words  of  John  the  Baptist, 
and  the  solemn  refrain  of  his  preaching, 
"  Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is 
at  hand,"  he  began  by  repeating  these 
words,  and  for  the  time  he  said  no  others. 
But  it  was  not  at  Nazareth  that  he  was 
to  preach  what  he  already  called  the  "gos- 
pel," —  the  good  news,  that  is,  —  the  com- 
ing renovation  of  things,  prepared  for  by 
a  change  in  men's  hearts  and  lives.  In 
Nazareth  he  had  no  authority:  he  had 
been  known  there  from  childhood,  and 
"  no  man  is  a  prophet  in  his  own  country." 
And,  besides,  he  would  there  remain  un- 
known.    Nazareth  is  hidden  away  in  the 


4  JESUS  CHRIST 

hills  ;  he  needed  a  centre  from  which  to 
radiate  into  the  far  distance.  Therefore 
he  chose  Capernaum,  deciding  that  tliis 
village  should  be  the  point  of  departure 
for  his  preaching,  his  calls  to  his  people. 
The  choice  was,  no  doubt,  the  result  of 
careful  investigation  on  his  part.  He 
might  have  stationed  himself  elsewhere  ; 
but  remaining  in  Galilee,  giving  up  for 
the  outset  the  idea  of  Jerusalem,^  he  could 
be  nowhere  better  placed  than  in  Caper- 
naum. He  certainly  knew  this  town  and 
all  the  lake  shore,  and  in  his  youth  he  had 
often  taken  the  six  or  seven  hours'  walk 
which  separated  Nazareth  from  the  Sea 
of  Galilee. 

He  decided,  therefore,  to  leave  the  place 
where  he  had  always  lived.  The  rupture 
was  certainly  painful.  This  village  where 
he  had  grown  up  was  entwined  with  mem- 
ories not  merely  of  his  childhood,  but  of 
all  his  youth  and  his  life  up  to  the  age  of 
thirty.  It'  is  true  that  these  memories 
were  of  mingled  character.  His  mother 
did  not  understand  him  ;  his  brothers  dis- 

1  "  For  the  outset,"  because  his  first  attempts  upon 
Jerusalem  had  not  succeeded.  See,  further,  Chapter 
VIII.,  "  Journeys  to  Jerusalem." 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  5 

approved  of  him  ;  James  especially,  —  the 
austere,  strict,  fastidious  Jew,  —  who  was 
nearly  of  his  own  age,  must  have  looked 
upon  him  as  a  prodigal  son,  and  later, 
when  he  became  aware  of  Jesus'  breadth 
of  view,  his  heiesies,  his  violation  of  the 
Sabbath,  would  suspect  liim  of  madness. 
But  this  was  of  minor  importance  ;  for 
Jesus  to  leave  Nazareth,  to  go  away,  was 
to  break  with  all  that  he  had  dearest  in 
the  world. 

On  leaving  Nazareth  the  road  ascends, 
and  the  view  opens  more  and  more  widely. 
The  culminating  point  of  the  way  is  one 
of  the  highest  in  all  Galilee.  Jesus  could 
see  immense  regions  spread  out  around 
him,  and  in  the  distance  Mount  Hermon, 
eternally  white,  towering  above  the  lower 
mountains,  whose  large  undulations  de- 
scend toward  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  still  in- 
visible, hidden  behind  its  terraced  hills. 
When  at  last  it  comes  into  view,  it  is  a 
sheet  of  grayish  blue,  seen  only  in  glimpses 
against  the  distant  background,  and  grad- 
ually coming  more  clearly  into  view. 
From  these  high  points  might  be  seen  on 
its  banks  cities,  villages,  —  white  houses, 


6  JESUS  CHRIST 

cubes  of  masonry  in  great  number,  far 
away  and  very  low,  as  upon  a  map. 

Galilee  in  that  time  was  tlu'obbing  with 
intense  life  ;  and  when  one  sees  it  to-da}^ 
so  gray  and  dead,  the  contrast  is  poignant. 
When  Jesus  from  the  top  of  the  hills  first 
saw  the  lake,  he  saw  at  the  same  time 
Tiberias,  Magdala,  Bethsaida,  and  number- 
less barks  skimming  the  water.  Into  the 
midst  of  this  simple  and  artless  popula- 
tion, he  was  about  to  bring  his  new  ideas, 
—  the  preaching  of  John  the  BajDtist,  and 
still  other  things  ;  all  that  was  fermenting 
in  his  soul,  all  that  for  eighteen  years  had 
been  working  in  his  mind  and  drawing  him 
on,  and  all  that  he  was  shortly  to  add  to 
this  ;  for  his  thought  was  on  the  march, 
and  every  day  some  new  horizon  would 
open  before  him,  and  he  would  better 
understand  the  Father's  will.  His  meat 
was  to  do  that  will,  and  thus  to  accom- 
plish his  work. 

In  going -to  Capernaum  he  did  not  take 
Tiberias  in  his  way.  This  idolatrous  or 
would-be  idolatrous  city,  peopled  witli 
pagans  and  foreigners,  inspired  in  him 
the  aversion  with  which  it  inspired  every 
loyal   and    patriotic    Isiaclite.     He    went 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  7 

directly  to  the  lake,  and  then  walked 
along  its  banks  ;  ^  and  it  was  there  that 
he  met  his  first  friends  —  perhaps  by  ap- 
pointment, —  two  brothers,  Simon  and 
Andrew,  and  farther  on  two  other  broth- 
ers, James  and  John.  These  four  young 
men,  particularly  the  last  two,  his  own 
cousins,  were  to  stand  to  him  in  the  place 
of  his  family,  and  would  never  again  leave 
him.  John  had  already  known  him  for  a 
long  time,  had  loved  and  followed  him, 
and  was  united  to  Jesus  in  a  close  and 
tender  friendship.  He  also  had  felt  the 
influence  of  the  Baptist,  had  been  his  dis- 
ciple ;  and  already  for  years,  no  doubt, 
Jesus  and  John  had  thought  together, 
studied  together,  understood  and  found 
light  together.  Alone  of  the  apostles  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross,  it  would  be  for  him 
to  take  the  place  of  son  to  the  mother  of 
the  Crucified  One. 

Capernaum  and  its  neighboring  villages, 
Bethsaida  and  Chorazin,  were  to  be  the 
favorite  haunts  of  Jesus,  and  this  corner 
of  the  earth's  surface  was  to  become  the 
cradle  of  Christianity  and  of  the  world. 
New  ideas  were  soon  to  be  fermentinsf  there. 

1  Marki.  16;  Matt.  iv.  18. 


8  JESUS   CHRIST 

At  Capernaum  the  house  of  Simon  and 
Andrew,  both  of  them  sons  of  a  certain 
Johanan,  became  the  first  shelter  and 
abode  of  Jesus.  Soon,  thanks  to  a  com- 
mon purse,  which  he  established  after  the 
Essenian  custom,  he  rented  a  house,  —  one 
of  those  mean  dwellings,  low-roofed  and 
windowless,  in  which  people  only  spend 
the  night.  It  was  not  in  the  house  that  he 
spoke,  but  in  the  open  air,  on  the  shore 
of  the  lake,  the  plashing  of  whose  harmless 
wavelets  was  far  too  gentle  to  stifle  his 
voice.  More  or  less  everywhere  on  the 
lake-shore  Jesus  taught.  The  crowds 
listened  standing  on  the  shores  ;  the  fisher- 
men brought  their  boats  to  the  very  mar- 
gin of  the  grass  to  listen,  while  he,  seated 
in  the  boat  of  Simon  Cephas,  pronounced 
a  few  beatitudes  or  related  a  parable. 
Water-fowl  swam  around  the  boat;  the 
sky  quivered  with  light,  and  the  waves 
came  softly  up  to  die  upon  pebble  and 
sand,  amid  the  grass  and  the  flowers. 

The  stones  of  the  shore  which  travellers 
to-day  tread  under  foot  have  heard  his 
words,  but  we  can  hear  them  only  through 
his  disciples.  He  preached  the  gospel  of 
the  early  days,  adding  to  the  preaching  of 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  9 

John  the  Baptist  the  announcement  of  the 
Father's  love  and  universal  brotherhood. 
He  proclaimed  pardon  and  infinite  mercy 
at  a  time  when  men  knew  only  laws  of 
blood  and  vengeance,  gods  of  gloom  and 
jealousy  ;  and  he  who  thus  spoke  belonged 
to  Israel,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  most  exclusive 
race  of  all  antiquity.  And  it  was  the  very 
gospel,  the  good  news,  which  he  brought  to 
earth,  the  best  which  it  had  ever  heard 
or  will  ever  hear.  Now,  this  fact  is  not  to 
be  explained  ;  and  he  who  does  not  here 
admit  a  revelation,  and  persists  in  say- 
ing this  is  an  inexplicable  enigma,  seems 
indeed  to  be  wilfully  closing  his  eyes  to 
historic  evidence,  superabundantly  demon- 
strated. 

At  other  times  Jesus  went  about  the 
country,  passing  through  the  admirably 
cultivated  plain  of  Genesareth,  which  lay 
pent  up  between  the  sea  and  the  moun- 
tains, and  crossed  by  the  road  from  Jerusa- 
lem to  Damascus,  —  the  road  which  St. 
Paul  journeyed  over  a  few  hours  before  his 
conversion,  and  where  caravans  were  un- 
ceasingly passing.  This  plain  was  a  para- 
dise, an  enchanted  garden  filled  with  trees 
and  flowers. 


10  J£SUS  CHRIST 

But  let  no  one  believe  in  what  has  been 
called  the  Galilean  idyl.  Jesus  found 
himself  everywhere  surrounded  with  great 
suffering,  and  he  was  constantly  moved 
with  compassion.  If  he  preached,  it  was 
because  he  had  a  mission  to  fulfil.  It  is 
certain  that  he  had  not  earlier  begun  his 
ministry  because  he  had  been  waiting  for  a 
divine  call.  Now  he  had  heard  it;  God 
had  spoken  to  him  in  his  baptism.  He  was 
speaking  to  him  every  day;  and  the  most 
profomid  sentiment  in  Jesus'  heart  was  the 
desire  to  accomplish  the  work  of  God,  the 
work  which  the  Father  had  given  him  to 
do.  Now  he  was  carried  out  of  himself  in 
compassion  for  his  whole  people.  His  will, 
always  sincere,  firm,  and  when  the  time 
came  heroic,  was  henceforth  the  steadfast 
will  of  that  wliich  is  good,  or,  rather,  of  that 
which  is  God's  will.  Is  it  too  daring  to  as- 
sume that  the  first  two  petitions  of  the 
prayer  which  he  taught  his  chsciples  were 
in  those  days  constantly  upon  his  lips  be- 
cause they  had  been  constantly  in  his  heart 
during  the  years  which  immediately  pre- 
ceded his  public  life,  years  of  pondering 
and  waiting,  and  that  they  were  more  than 
ever  in  his  heart  and  on  his  lips  at  the  pre- 


DURING  RIS  MINISTRY  H 

cise  moment  when  he  went  to  live  in 
Capernaum,  —  "  Father,  hallowed  be  thy 
name  !  "  "  Thy  kingdom  come  !  "  Two 
sentiments  were  dominant  in  him,  —  an 
intense  and  tender  compassion  for  the 
moral  and  material  wretchedness  which 
smTOunded  him,  and  a  communion  with 
God^  which  sustained  and  carried  him 
without  the  slightest  faltering.  God  was 
there,  —  he  felt  him,  heard  him,  lived  with 
and  in  him  ;  and  this  union  with  the 
Father  was  the  source  of  a  deep  peace  and 
an  immense  joy  which  sometimes  thrilled 
through  him  and  filled  him  utterly. 

An  itinerant  Essene  in  his  manners,  a 
liberal  Pharisee  in  his  ideas,  —  such  Jesus 
appears  to  us  all  through  this  first  period 
of  his  activity.  During  these  first  months 
of  his  ministry  he  remained  in  the  great 
current  of  the  best  Pharisaic  doctrines, 
not  separating  himself  from  Judaism. 
His  object  was  to  prepare  by  his  preaching 
for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  and  he 
firmly  hoped  to  be  recognized  and  hailed 
as  Messiah  by  the  people  ;  and,  above  all, 
by  their  leaders,  the  Pharisees. 

He  lived  in  the  Essenian  way,  but  he  did 
not  conduct  himself  as  an  Essene  toward 


12  JESUS   CHRIST 

those  who  approached  him.  The  people 
who  hung  upon  his  footsteps  often  made, 
indeed,  a  very  motley  company.  Among 
them  were  individuals  with  whom  respect- 
able persons  did  not  associate  ;  ^  and  while 
the  Essene  would  have  held  himself  to  be 
contaminated  if  he  had  been  touched  by  a 
person  less  strict  than  himself,  Jesus,  by 
way  of  protest  against  such  narrowness, 
dined  with  these  pariahs,  and  declared  that 
he  was  come  to  seek  sinners.'-^ 

Thus  he  went  from  village  to  village, 
accepting  hospitality,  or  even  taking  it, 
according  to  custom.  A  guest  had  much 
authority  in  those  days.  The  master  of 
the  house  placed  himself  at  his  service,  and 
showed  liim  great  confidence.  Thus  it  was 
that  the  first  propagation  of  the  gospel  was 
made  by  fireside  preaching. 

Rabbi  Jehoshua  would  enter,  pronounce 
a  few  words  of  greeting,  relate  one  or  two 
allegorical  stories.  The  women  would 
leave  their  ,work,  and  seat  themselves  at 
his  feet  according  to  Oriental  custom  ;  the 
children  would  run  to  see  and  be  blessed 
by  the  journeying  Rabbi.     In  the  evening 

1  Matt  ix.  10  f .  ;  Luke  xv. 

2  Matt.  ix.  11  f .  ;  Mark  ii.  16  ff.  ;  Luke  v.  30  ft. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  13 

they  would  bring  to  him  the  sick  persons 
of  the  town,  for  every  Rabbi  was  a  doctor  ; 
he  would  give  them  counsel  and  heal  them. 
He  revealed  to  them  the  pearl  of  great 
price  ;  he  brought  the  hidden  treasure  ; 
every  one  was  touched  and  moved,  many 
declared  themselves  for  him.  They  said  : 
"  What  authority  !  what  power  !  what 
new  teaching  !"  On  the  morrow  the  same 
scenes  would  be  repeated  in  the  next 
village.  Many  details  are  thus  explained 
by  Oriental  customs.  Jesus  said  that  the 
laborer  was  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  his  hire 
was  the  hospitality  which  he  received.  To 
lodge  with  a  citizen  was  a  sort  of  public 
right,  for  there  were  hostelries  only  in  the 
large  cities. 

But  Capernaum  remained  his  centre.  Its 
name  signifies  "  small  town  "  (caphar^  vil- 
lage). Jesus  loved  it  much.^  On  Satur- 
days especially  he  made  a  point  of  teaching 
in  its  synagogue.  During  the  week  he 
went  about  in  the  country  among  the  scat- 
tered population. 

The  synagogue  lent  itself  admirably  to 
his  puqjose.  The  service  was  open  to  the 
public,  who  might  make  objections  and  put 

1  Matt.  ix.  1  ;  Mark  ii.  1, 


14  JESUS  CHRIST 

questions  to  the  speaker.  A  certain  dis- 
order reigned  there,  and  there  was  no 
solemnity.  People  conversed,  observed 
one  another,  put  questions  to  one  another. 
At  times  the  discussions  were  very  ani- 
mated. For  example,  there  were  questions 
of  precedence  that  made  a  great  stir  in 
this  little  world.  Men  wanted  the  first 
place,  the  highest  seat.  Nothing  in  the 
synagogues  resembled  the  silence  which 
reigns  in  Christian  churches,  and  which 
we  call  respect  for  the  holy  place. 

In  consequence,  for  Jesus  to  address  the 
meeting  or  offer  himself  as  reader,  gave 
him  an  admirable  opportunity  to  make 
known  his  mission.  His  agreement  with 
the  Pharisees,  who,  however,  were  not 
numerous  in  Galilee,  was  complete.  He 
himself  was  most  fully  persuaded  that  he 
was  in  the  true  line  of  good  Pharisaism. 
He  was  found  to  speak  well,  and  was 
greatly  admired.^ 

His  field  of  action  was  in  all  very 
limited.  Jesus  hardly  went  beyond  the 
sort  of  gulf  which  the  lake  forms  between 
Tiberias  and  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan,  a 

»  Matt.  vii.  28,  xiii.  54  ;  Mark  i.  22,  vi.  2  ;  Luke  iv. 
22,  32. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  15 

curve  of  three  leagues.  It  begins  with 
rocks  at  the  exit  from  Tiberias;  then  a 
plain  opens  out,  —  the  land  of  Genesareth, 
of  which  we  have  spoken.  In  it  lies  the 
village  of  Magdala. 

At  the  end  of  the  plain  is  a  road  cut  out 
of  the  rock,  which  still  exists,  and  which 
Jesus  surely  often  followed;  then  comes 
Capernaum,  and  in  its  neighborhood  Dal- 
manutha,  Bethsaida,  Chorazin,  lost  cities 
whose  site  will  be  forever  unknown. 

These  villages  were  densely  populated  ; 
their  inhabitants  were  fishermen,  worthy 
and  peaceable  men,  not  without  intelli- 
gence and  even  refinement,  but  densely 
ignorant,  and  with  a  very  incomplete  Jew- 
ish education.  They  were  sufficiently 
well  to  do,  and  though  not  of  pure  race, 
like  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem,  they  had  no 
Greek  blood.  Among  these  people  Jesus 
recruited  his  first  disciples,  who,  however, 
continued  to  work  at  their  fisher's  calling.^ 
Later  he  would  choose  twelve  disciples. 
He  had  not  yet  thought  of  doing  so  ;  but 
we  have  already  seen  four  of  them,  — 
John  and  James,  Peter  and  Andrew, — 
who,    especially   the   first  three,   were   to 

^  Matt.  iv.  18  ;  Mark  i.  16  ;  Luke  v.  3  ;  John  xxi.  3. 


16  JESUS   CHRIST 

form  an  inner  circle  of  friends  and  pre- 
ferred disciples. 

All  these  people  lived  a  life  very  dif- 
ferent from  our  own,  a  life  of  which  it  is 
almost  impossible  for  us  to  form  a  just 
idea.  With  us  existence  is  a  struggle; 
with  them  there  was  no  need  to  fight  for 
life.  They  had  no  necessities  to  satisfy: 
they  required  little  food,  and  were  con- 
tent with  anything.  There  were  no 
rigors  of  climate,  —  nature  was  generous  ; 
and  as  they  were  seldom  in  the  house,  they 
felt  no  need  that  their  homes  should  be 
beautiful.  The  earliest  disciples  who  sur- 
rounded the  Master  formed  a  group  of 
confiding  friends,  living  from  day  to  day, 
laying  up  nothing  in  store,  since  the  king- 
dom of  God  was  at  hand,  and  asking 
nothing  more  than  the  morrow's  bread. 

They  were  poor,  and  yet  happy  :  as 
they  possessed  nothing,  no  one  could 
deprive  tliem  of  anything  ;  they  were 
therefore  without  care,  and  suffered  no 
privation.  With  us,  the  poor  man  has 
much  difficulty  in  making  for  himself  his 
small  place  in  the  sunshine.  There  the 
poor  enjoyed  the  flowers,  the  shade,  —  all 
nature,  which  was  theirs  as  much  as  any- 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  17 

body's.  The  thought  of  communism  came 
naturally  to  the  mind,  —  not  in  order  that 
every  one  should  be  rich  ;  quite  the  con- 
trary. "  Riches  are  an  evil  thing,"  they 
would  say  ;  "poverty  is  a  good.  It  is  best 
to  give  away  the  little  that  one  has. 
Neither  liberty  nor  happiness  depends  on 
what  one  has  or  has  not."  These  doc- 
trines were  in  the  air.  In  the  preaching 
of  those  days  Jesus  would  speak  of  them, 
and  he  already  practised  Essenian  com- 
munism. One  disciple  had  charge  of  the 
common  purse  ;  it  was  replenished  by 
gifts  brought  by  the  new  members  or  by 
some  who  were  richer  than  the  others. 
Among  those  who  heard  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  were  some  who  were  led  to  the 
point  of  giving  up  everything  and  leaving 
all  things  to  follow  him,  solemnly  promis- 
ing never  to  leave  him  ! 

How  little  all  this  was  in  appearance  ! 
How  humble  and  small  it  all  was  !  A  few 
dreamy  and  ignorant  Oriental  souls,  know- 
ing nothing  either  of  the  size  of  the  world 
or  the  political  power  of  the  Caesars, 
nothing  of  the  most  elementary  philosophy 
or  of  the  law  of  the  universe  ;  expecting 
the  kingdom  and  seeing  everywhere  the 
2 


18  JESUS   CHRIST 

signs  of  its  approach  ;  believing  that  heaven 
is  above,  and  hell  below,  and  the  earth  in 
the  middle.  And  these  souls  were  un- 
settled, disquieted,  half  unbelieving,  even 
in  the  things  that  they  knew  and  believed. 
And  when  one  thinks  that  it  is  they  who 
have  transmitted  Jesus  to  us,  that  we 
know  Jesus  only  through  their  instrumen- 
tality, and  that  the  little  that  they  have 
told  us  of  him,  so  imperfectly  and  incom- 
pletely, has  overturned  and  changed  the 
world  ;  when  one  realizes  that  it  is  by 
what  they  have  said  that  we  live  and  die 
(for  the  gospel  is  the  best  that  men  have 
by  which  to  learn  to  live  well  and  die 
well),  and  that  no  one  has  found  anything 
else,  that  we  cannot  do  without  it,  —  then 
the  teaching  of  Jesus,  his  word,  his  per- 
son, all  his  being,  expand  to  inconceivable 
proportions,  and  the  certitude  of  a  divine 
message,  a  divine  revelation,  a  word  come 
down  from  heaven,  and  a  being  come  down 
from  heaven,  forces  itself  upon  us,  domi- 
nates us,  overwhelms  us  with  its  evidence. 
For,  after  all,  everything  comes  from  him, 
—  our  laws,  our  morals,  our  civilization, 
all  our  wisdom  and  our  newest  ideas; 
and  those   who    reject   Jesus,   blaspheme 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  19 

and  deny  him,  still  are  subject  to  his  in- 
fluence, and  in  spite  of  themselves  in  one 
relation  or  another  remain  his  disciples  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  misguided  Chris- 
tians, full  of  intolerance  and  fanaticism, 
orthodox  hypocrites  and  the  proud  of  all 
denominations,  and  the  priests  of  all  com- 
munions, also  exalt  him,  since  they  call 
themselves  by  his  name;  and  it  is  even 
the  case  that  those  who  senselessly  throw- 
down  his  cross,  thinking  themselves  to  be 
working  for  liberty  and  truth,  are  often 
impelled  into  error  by  an  unrecognized 
motive  of  generosity,  which  by  that  very 
quality  has  its  roots  in  the  evangelical 
and  Christian  spirit. 

Whatever,  then,  may  be  one's  judgment 
of  the  Gospels  and  their  authenticity,  it 
remains  true  that  there  was  a  personality 
of  incomparable  power  concerning  whom 
these  books  were  composed.  The  whole 
sum  of  facts  and  ideas  connected  with 
Jesus,  which  caused  the  creation  of  the 
Church,  the  activity  of  the  apostles,  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  early  martyrs,  proves 
the  appearance  in  the  first  century  of  a 
being  whose  influence  upon  those  who 
knew  and  loved  him  was  colossal. 


20  JESUS  CHRIST 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  LANGUAGE  OF  JESUS 

JESUS  wrote  nothing,  and  he  appears 
not  to  have  taken  the  smallest  pre- 
caution to  secure  the  preservation  of  his 
words.  This  was  perfectly  natural.  No 
one  in  the  Jewish  world  of  Palestine  had 
his  mind  turned  to  the  composing  of  books. 
Why  write  them?  The  world  was  about 
to  come  to  an  end  ;  and,  in  fact,  the  Apoca- 
lypses, which  are  the  only  remaining  Pal- 
estinian works  of  that  time,  are  short  tracts 
solely  designed  to  describe  the  end  of  all 
things  and  prepare  men's  minds  for  the 
final  catastrophe. 

People  also  wrote  letters,  but  only  occa- 
sionally. St.  Paul  did  not  compose  one 
line  for  the  future  ;  he  wrote  not  one  word 
with  the  intention  that  it  should  last.  He 
was  too  well  convinced  that  he  was  living 
in  the  last  days  of  history.  As  to  the 
Gospels,  it  was  not  until  much  later  that 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  21 

men  thouglit  of  composing  them.  To  write 
was  to  will  to  preserve,  to  take  thought  for 
the  morrow.  Certainly  Jesus  took  thought 
for  the  future  of  his  work,  but  it  was  by 
committing  it  to  the  apostles  ;  and  he 
seems  not  to  have  considered  that  the 
apostles  themselves  might  have  need  to 
confide  it  to  those  who  should  succeed 
them. 

How  did  the  apostles  retain  the  mem- 
ory of  Jesus'  words  ?  How  were  his  words 
preserved  intact,  after  being  for  a  long- 
time transmitted  from  lip  to  lip,  no  one 
so  much  as  thinking  of  fixing  them  by 
writing  ?  Simply  by  one  of  those  feats  of 
memory  which  the  scarcity  of  manuscripts 
made  an  absolute  necessity.  The  preser- 
vation of  the  maxims  of  the  Rabbis  in  the 
Talmud  offers  precisely  the  same  phenome- 
non ;  and  this  explanation  is  the  right  one, 
because  it  is  the  only  one  possible,  and 
there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  the 
sayings  of  Jesus  have  come  do^vn  to  us 
in  their  authentic  form. 

His  sayings  have  so  peculiar  a  turn,  so 
original  a  character,  that  no  one  can  mis- 
take them,  and  one  can  easily  authenticate 
the  very  special  form  which  he  gave  to  his 


22  JESUS  CHRIST 

thought;  we  may  almost  speak  of  the 
style  of  Jesus  as  if  he  had  himself  held  the 
peu.  And  yet  he  not  only  wrote  nothing, 
but  we  have  not  even  his  words  in  the 
language  in  which  they  were  spoken.  We 
have  said  that  one  of  the  apostles  made  a 
collection  of  the  sayings  of  Jesus  in  the 
original  tongue,  and  that  this  collection  is 
lost.  Yet,  notwithstanding  this  loss,  we  can 
still  judge  of  the  form  which  Jesus  gave 
his  thought,  so  forcible  and  characteristic 
is  the  imprint  which  his  personality  put 
upon  the  least  of  his  utterances.  Each 
one  of  them  is  in  some  way  inimitable,  of 
an  unique  originality.  The  words  of  Jesus 
are  certainly  his  own,  and  can  be  those 
of  no  other.  Hillel,  the  elder  Gamaliel, 
Shammai,  also  wrote  nothing  ;  and  perhaps 
by  collecting  the  authentic  maxims  of  each 
of  these  doctors,  one  might  characterize 
their  method  of  teaching  and  the  form 
which  they  gave  to  their  aphorisms.  At 
all  events,  it  can  be  done  in  the  case  of 
Jesus. 

It  is  true  that  as  soon  as  the  form  is 
in  question,  we  must  set  aside  the  long 
discourses  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  for,  as  is 
generally   admitted,    these   discourses   are 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  23 

given  to  us  in  a  language  peculiar  to  the 
author  of  the  book.  If  the  thought  is  that 
of  Jesus,  the  style  is  not  his.  We  have 
therefore  not  to  speak  of  them  here.^ 

As  to  the  Synoptics,  they  reproduce  with 
admirable  fidelity  the  very  expressions  used 
by  Jesus.  Still,  I  should  not  dare  to  say 
that  the  long  discourses  are  textual.  I  do 
not  believe  that  Jesus  spoke  in  very  long 
discourses.  He  developed  little,  and  the 
brevity  of  his  utterances,  the  clearness  of 
his  judgments,  show  that  he  sought  above 
all  things  precision  in  conciseness.  His 
style  is  eminently  the  lapidary's  style.  He 
spoke  in  short  paragraphs,  which,  being 
brought  together,  formed  the  discourses 
which  we  find  in  the  Gospels.  The  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount,  for  example,  was  put 
together  by  ti*adition;  its  different  parts 
are  not  necessarily  connected,  and  this  ser- 
mon was  never  pronounced  just  as  it 
stands.  It  is  simply  a  smnming  up  of 
Jesus'  mode  of  teacliing  during  a  certain 
period  of  his  ministry.  Jesus  did  like  all 
the  Rabbis,  none  of  whom  was  an  orator 

1  Nevertheless  there  are  to  be  found  in  the  fourth 
Gospel  a  number  of  sayings  of  Christ  of  which  the 
form  is  precisely  that  which  the  first  three  give. 


24  J£SUS  CHRIST 

in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  —  one 
who  aims  at  eloquence. 

The  Rabbis,  wandering  Essenes  or  others, 
lived  in  small  groups.  No  one  among 
them  wrote  ;  they  conversed  in  public  and 
among  themselves  ;  they  formulated  their 
thoughts  in  short  aphorisms  easy  to  re- 
member. These  sentences  might  be  either 
purely  moral  precepts,  or  interjDretations  of 
the  Law,  or  even  individual  opinions  on 
divers  casuistical  points.  Jesus  did  like 
the  others.  He  abolished  nothing,  he  ful- 
filled; and  his  aphorisms  came  from  his 
lips  in  incomparable  form,  finished,  perfect. 

If  he  did  not  precisely  preach  sermons, 
it  yet  sometimes  happened  that  he  spoke 
long  at  a  time  ;  but  he  did  not  set  forth 
ideas  logically  linked  together  according 
to  a  plan  thought  out  and  fixed  in  advance. 
The  custom  of  the  Rabbis  was  to  express 
themselves  either  in  clear,  well-defined 
sentences  which  left  no  doubt  of  their  sig- 
nification, ©r,  on  the  contrary,  in  enigmati- 
cal utterances  which  excited  attention  by 
the  desire  to  find  their  meaning,  which 
they  aroused.  Jesus,  whose  words  were 
often  fragmentary,  made  use  of  both  forms  ; 
with  them  he  clothed  entirely  new  ideas, 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  25 

and  gave  tliem  an  expression  of  finished 
perfection.^ 

Searching  thus  for  the  most  exact  term, 
the  most  striking  word,  the  best  figure, 
Jesus  came  to  employ  unique  expressions 
with  precision  and  truth.  He  gave  to  the 
idea  its  final  form.  I  will  cite  only  one 
example.  The  Pharisees  had  often  spoken 
of  Providence  before  Jesus  began  to  teach, 
but  faith  in  Providence  became  definitive 
only  on  the  day  when  he  said,  "Not  a 
sparrow  shall  fall  to  the  ground  without 
your  Father;  "2  "The  hairs  of  your  head 
are  all  numbered."^ 

He  adopted  for  his  sententious  utter- 
ances two  forms  particularly  well  adapted 
to  engrave  them  upon  the  memory,  and  of 
these  he  was  very  fond,  —  antithesis  and 
paradox. 

1  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  Jesus  never  spoke 
except  in  this  manner.  There  were  in  liis  discourses, 
especially  toward  the  close  of  his  ministry,  passages 
of  sublime  tone,  whose  elevation  recalls  and  surpasses 
the  most  magnificent  apostrophes  of  the  old  Prophets, 
and  which  have  no  relationship  with  the  brief  and 
somewhat  dry  maxims  of  the  Doctors  of  the  first  cen- 
tury. But  it  is  certain  that  we  have  in  the  short,  pre- 
cise sentence  one  of  the  forms  which  by  preference 
Jesus  gave  to  his  thought. 

2  Matt.  X.  29  ;  Luke  xii.  6. 

3  Matt.  X.  30;  Luke  xii.  7. 


26  JESUS   CHRIST 

Antithesis  is  continually  in  liis  mouth. 
For  examples  of  it,  one  might  cite  more 
than  half  his  teachings.  Paradox,  which 
excites  and  sustains  the  attention,  is  also 
frequent  :  "  Whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall 
be  given;  but  whosoever  hath  not,  from 
him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which 
he  hath."  ^  "  If  any  man  cometh  unto  me 
and  hateth  not  his  own  father  and  mother 
and  wife  and  children  and  brethren  and 
sisters,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he 
cannot  be  my  disciple."  ^  "  Rejoice  and 
be  exceeding  glad,"  in  persecution.^  "  I 
am  not  come  to  bringpeace,  but  a  sword."* 
"  He  that  is  not  for  me  is  against  me."  ^ 
Sometimes  it  is  only  an  exaggeration,  —  the 
faith  which  moves  mountains,^  the  camel 
that  passes  through  the  eye  of  a  needle." 
He  also  liked  plays  upon  words  :  "  Thou 
art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  [jjetra)  T  will 
build  my  church."  ^  "  He  who  will  save 
his  life  shall  lose  it.  He  who  will  lose 
it   for   my'  sake   shall   save   it."  ^      "  Let 

1  Matt.  xiii.  12  ;  Mark  iv.  25.        2  Lu^^  xiv.  26. 
8  Matt.  V.  12;  Luke  vi.  23. 
*  Matt.  X.  34;  Luke  xii.  51. 

6  Matt.  xii.  30  ;  Luke  xi.  23.  o  Matt.  xii.  21. 

7  Matt.  xix.  24  ;  Mark  x.  25  ;  Luke  xviii.  25. 

8  Matt.  xvi.  18. 

»  Matt.  xvi.  25;  Mark  viii.  .35;  Luke  ix.  24,  xvii.  33. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  27 

the  dead  bury  their  dead."  ^  The  fisher- 
men of  the  lake  become  "  fishers  of  men."  ^ 

By  all  these  methods,  designed  to  at- 
tract attention,  Jesus  shows  himself  the 
ingenious  Rabbi,  knowing  how  to  captivate 
his  hearers,  to  aid  their  memory,  provoke 
their  reflection  ;  and  always  with  a  mar- 
vellous simplicity. 

It  often  happened  that  he  put  his  max- 
ims into  figurative  form  ;  for  example, 
"  The  lamp  of  the  body  is  the  eye."  ^  Fig- 
urative language  was  in  fact  the  habitual 
and  almost  constant  form  of  his  thought. 
He  seldom  made  use  of  abstract  terms. 
His  incessant  endeavor  was  to  be  under- 
stood by  his  hearers.  He  puts  himself  at 
their  level  ;  he  varies  his  utterances  ;  some- 
times he  gives  striking  examples  ;  some- 
times he  uses  words  so  simple  as  to  be  almost 
infantine  ;  sometimes  the  expressions  are 
half  veiled  ;  everywhere  his  object  is  the 
same,  —  to  awake  attention  and  gain  souls. 
It  is  the  picture  that  dominates  ;  from  the 
simple  illustration  of  his  thought  by  an  ex- 
pressive word  to  the  long  enigmatic  para- 
bles, he   always   speaks   in   pictures,   and 

1  Matt.  viii.  22  ;  Luke  ix.  60.         2  L^ke  v.  10. 
'  Luke  xi.  34. 


28  JESUS   CHRIST 

best  of  all  he  loves  to  put  warnings  in 
this  form.i 

Comparisons,  properly  so  called,  by 
which  he  reproves,  censures,  exhorts,  are 
very  numerous.^  In  this  method  we  must 
see  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  authority. 
Jesus  shows  and  does  not  demonstrate. 
He  proposes  divine  verities,  certain  that 
that  which  is  right  and  true  will  prove 
itself  by  showing  itself.  This  again  is  one 
of  the  reasons  for  the  sententious  and  axi- 
omatic form  in  which  he  continually  ex- 
presses himself.  Finally,  when  the  thought 
which  he  is  about  to  give  out  appears  to 
him  particularly  important,  he  precedes  it 
with  the  words,  Amen  !  Amen  !  that  is, 
Verily!  Verily! 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  perfection 
of  form  was  not  improvised.  We  said  in 
our  first  volume  that  Jesus  must  have  pre- 
pared himself  to  speak  in  public.  If  he 
certainly  applied  to  himself  his  precept, 
"  Be  not  alixious  what  ye  shall  say,  for  the 

1  Matt.  V.  25,  vii.  3,  10,  ix.  16,  17,  xxiv.  45;  Luke 
viii.  10,  xi.  33,  xiv.  7-11,  xviii.  9-14,  xiv.  28-33,  xvii. 
7-9. 

2  Matt.  V.  13,  14,  vi.  22,  xi.  16-17;  Mark  iv.  26-29; 
Matt.  xiii. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  29 

Holy  Ghost  will  show  you  how  ye  ought 
to  speak,"  ^  none  the  less  did  he  carefully 
prepare  certain  parts  of  his  teaching.  The 
Lord's  Prayer  must  have  been  the  result  of 
a  preparation  like  that  which  the  Pharisees 
made  for  the  prayers  which  they  composed 
for  the  use  of  their  disciples.  John  the  Bap- 
tist too  composed  a  prayer  for  his  disciples. 
To  represent  the  form  of  Jesus'  teach- 
ing as  spontaneous  is  either  to  believe  it 
to  have  been  fortuitous  or  else  to  make  of 
it  a  mechanical  revelation,  a  dictation  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  as  people  used  formerly  to 
suppose  was  the  case  with  the  books  of 
the  Bible.  The  form  which  Jesus  gave 
his  utterances  was  predetermined  ;  he  had 
reflected  upon  it  ;  with  wonderful  tact  he 
had  put  in  operation  the  gifts  which  God  had 
given  him.  Compare  his  figures  with  those 
of  his  brother  James.  What  a  resemblance 
and  what  a  difference  !  Resemblance,  for 
of  all  the  Biblical  writings,  James's  style 
most  nearly  resembles  his,  which  is  not 
surprising,  since  they  were  brothers.  But 
yet  what  a  difference  between  them  !  The 
passage  in  James  about    the   tongue,^   to 

1  Mark  xiii.  11  ;  Matt.  x.  19;  Luke  xii.  11. 
^  James  iii.  1-12. 


30  JESUS    CHRIST 

cite  only  this  one,  is  full  of  insufficient 
metaphors,  accumulated  images,  tasteless 
and  too  abundant.  With  Jesus  the  image 
is  perfect,  always  lofty,  always  adequate. 
His  language  is  indeed  that  of  the  Orient, 
but  without  one  of  those  incoherences  which 
are  so  constant  with  Orientals,  and  with 
which  they  concern  themselves  so  little. 
Jesus  was  concerned  to  find  the  finished 
form  as  well  as  all  the  rest. 

Thus  the  parables,  with  their  rich  teach- 
ings, in  which  so  many  details  are  inten- 
tional and  have  their  signification,  were 
certainly  not  improvised.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  are  composed  with  consummate 
art.  We  may  say  of  them  that  they  have 
not  a  word  too  much  or  too  little.  Clear- 
ness, simplicity,  conciseness,  are  what  dis- 
tinguish them.  The  naturally  figura- 
tive turn  of  Jesus'  thought  found  in 
these  little  stories  its  natural  expression. 
People  say  that  the  parable  was  already  in 
use  amon^  the  Orientals.  That  is  true  of 
the  Hindoos,  but  it  is  not  entirely  true  of 
the  Jews.  The  figurative  stories  of  the 
Old  Testament  ^  have  only  an  external  re- 
semblance to  the  parables  of  Jesus  Christ. 

1  Jud.  ix.  8  ff.  ;  2  Sam.  xii.  1  ft. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  31 

Still,  the  Rabbis  of  his  time  did  make  use 
of  this  mode  of  teaching.  The  Talmud 
cites  a  considerable  number  of  the  parables 
of  Hillel  and  Shammai.  Jesus  did  like 
them. 

It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  he  did 
not  begin  by  relating  parables.  In  his 
mode  of  speech  he  made  development,  as  in 
all  the  rest.  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
that  is  to  say,  the  beatitudes,  the  laws  and 
promises  of  the  coming  kingdom,  precepts 
easy  to  understand,  figures  of  an  extreme 
simplicity,  like  that  of  the  mote  and  the 
beam,i  Qf  agreeing  with  the  opposing  party ,2 
grapes  gathered  from  thorns  and  figs  from 
thistles,^  the  houses  built  either  on  the 
rock  or  the  sand,*  —  such  was  the  first 
form  of  imagery  in  the  teachings  of  Jesus. 
They  are  notliing  more  than  metaphors  ; 
they  are  not  yet  true  parables.  The  first 
of  the  parables  properly  so  called  are  those 
of  the  kingdom.  There  remain  to  us 
eight  of  them:  1.  The  sower  ;  ^  2.  the 
wheat  and  the    tares  ;'^   3.  the    grain   of 

1  Matt.  vii.  3.  2  Matt.  v.  25. 

8  Matt.  vii.  16.  *  Matt.  vii.  24-27. 

6  Matt.  xiii.  4  ff.  ;  Mark  iv.  3  £f.  ;  Luke  viii.  5  ff. 

6  Matt.  xiii.  24  £f. 


32  JESUS   CHRIST 

mustard  seed  ;  ^  4.  the  seed  thrown  into 
the  ground  ;  ^  5.  the  leaven  ;  ^  6.  the 
treasure  hidden  in  the  field  ;  *  7.  the 
pearl  of  great  price  ;  ^  8.  the  net  cast  into 
the  sea."  Here  Jesus  draws  almost  all 
his  comparisons  from  nature.  His  parable 
has  already  its  finished,  perfected  form. 
It  is  a  little  drama,  with  its  dénouement, 
a  true  fiction,  but  one  that  never  tran- 
scends historic  probabilit3\ 

At  a  later  time  Jesus  changed  both  the 
form  and  the  matter  of  his  parables.  He 
borrowed  his  comparisons  from  man  him- 
self, and  the  most  profound  feelings  of  his 
soul.  Furthermore,  he  did  not  always 
give  a  symbolic  example,  but  simply  gave 
an  example  to  avoid.  Sixteen  of  the 
parables  of  this  second  period  have  come 
down  to  us:  1.  The  two  debtors;'^  2.  the 
unforgiving  servant;  ^  3.  the  good  Samari- 
tan ;  ^  4.  the  friend  coming  at  midnight  ;  ^^ 
5.  the  man  whose  fields  had  brought  forth 
much;^^  6.  the  marriage  supper  ;  ^^  7.  the 

1  Matt.  xiii.  31  ff.  ;  Mark  iv.  30  £E. 

2  Mark  iv.  26  f .  3  Matt.  xiii.  33. 

*  Matt.  xiii.  44.  ^  Matt.  xiii.  45  f. 

6  Matt.  xiii.  47  f.  ^  Luke  vii.  40  ff. 

8  Matt,  xviii.  23  ff.  »  Luke  x.  25  f . 

10  Luke  xi.  6  f .  "  Luke  xii.  IG  f . 
12  Luke  xii.  35  f . 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  33 

barren  fig-tree  ;  ^  8.  the  great  supper  ;  ^ 
9.  the  lost  sheep  ;  ^  10.  the  lost  drachma  ;  "* 
11.  the  prodigal  son  ;  ^  12.  the  unjust 
steward  ;  ^  13.  Lazarus  and  the  rich  man  ;  " 
14.  the  unjust  judge  ;  ^  15.  the  Pharisee 
and  the  Publican  ;  ^  16.  the  laborers  in 
the  vineyard.^^  At  the  close  of  his  min- 
istry Jesus  resumed  his  parabolical  teach- 
ings about  the  kingdom  of  God.  There 
remain  to  us  six  prophetic  similitudes  of 
this  epoch,  of  which  we  shall  speak  in  our 
third  volume  ;  in  them  Jesus  announces 
his  return  and  the  last  judgment  :  1.  The 
talents,^^  or  the  mince  ;  ^^  2.  the  two  sons  ;  ^^ 
3.  the  husbandmen  ;  ^'^  4.  the  marriage  of 
the  king's  son  ;  ^^  5.  the  ten  virgins  ;  ^^ 
6.  the  sheep  and  the  goats. ^'^ 

The  parabolic  teaching  of  Jesus  has  an 
extreme  importance  ;  we  believe  that  it 
is   in   the   parable   that   we    must   search 

^  Luke  xiii.  6  f .  ^  Luke  xiv.  15  f. 

3  Matt,  xviii.  12  f  ;  Luke  xv.  3  f .     *  Luke  xv.  8  f. 

5  Luke  XV.  11  f.  6  Luke  xvi.  1  f. 

■^  Luke  xvi.  19  f.  ^  Luke  xviii.  1  f. 

9  Luke  xviii.  9  f.  i«  Matt.  xx.  1  f. 

"  Matt.  XXV.  14  f .  12  Luke  xix.  12  f. 
13  Matt.  xi.  28  f. 

"  Matt.  xxi.  33  f .  ;  Mark  xii.  1  f .  ;  Luke  xx.  9  f, 

16  Matt.  xx.  1  f .  i«  Matt.  xxv.  1  f. 
11  Matt.  XXV.  3  f. 


34  JESUS    CHRIST 

for  the  real  matter  of  liis  thought.  When 
he  had  reflected  at  length  upon  a  subject 
and  had  arrived  at  a  clear  and  definite 
idea,  the  evolution  of  his  thought  having 
]'eached  its  outcome,  he  composed  a  parable 
by  which  he  gave  a  finished  and  complete 
form  to  a  doctrine  equally  finished  and 
complete.  Thus  it  is  that,  after  liaving 
for  a  long  time  taught  that  the  Heavenly 
Father  pardons  those  who  pardon,  remits 
the  sins  of  whosoever  consents  to  overlook 
the  sins  that  have  been  committed  against 
liim,  he  composed  the  parable  of  the  un- 
forgiving servant,  which  expresses  in 
pictiu-esque  form  his  true  doctrine  on 
this  important  subject.  Hence  it  results 
that  to  know  the  final  thought  of  Jesus 
we  must  study  his  parables,  and  that  by 
placing  them  as  much  as  possible  at  their 
true  date,  we  get  a  veritable  history  of  his 
religious  ideas. 

Let  us  now  seek  to  determine  the  true 
character  'of  the  form  given  by  Jesus 
to  his  teaching.  It  seems  to  us  that  it  may 
be  defined  by  the  word  "  spiritualization." 
He  fulfils  the  past  by  transforming  it,  and 
this  simply  by  the  power  of  his  own 
spiritual    life.     Jesus,   by    his    ideas,   his 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  35 

knowledge,  his  language,  is  of  his  own 
time  and  country.  But  in  him  there 
reigns  an  intense  religiosity,  a  profound 
and  unalterable  sense  of  the  continual 
presence  of  God,  which  transforms  every- 
thing, sees  through  everything,  and  gives 
to  each  a  special  reality  and  value. 

He  has  no  preconceived  ideas,  whether 
critical,  literary,  historical,  or  metaphysical. 
He  has  nothing  to  do  with  such  things. 
He  makes  no  use  of  the  distinctions  of 
modern  thought,  and  he  accepts  all  the 
concrete  and  realistic  terms  of  his  time  and 
people.  He  accepts,  without  the  least  idea 
that  it  is  open  to  discussion,  all  that  re- 
lates to  angels  and  Satan.  He  admits  the 
fact  of  demoniac  possession;  he  could  not 
do  other  than  admit  it,  or  he  would  not 
be  of  his  own  time.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  eschatological  notions  and  of  all  the 
old  Judaism.  It  comes  from  God,  he  says  ; 
the  Torah  is  the  code  of  a  divine  religion. 
But  he  spiritualizes  everywhere,  because  his 
religious  consciousness  is  always  alive, 
and  it  assimilates  the  contents  of  the 
book  only  by  virtue  of  its  affinity  with 
the  contents.  K  a  text  has  authority  with 
him  by  virtue  of   It  is  written^  and  that 


36  JESUS   CHRIST 

because  he  is  a  Jew  and  of  his  time,  the 
text  also  and  especially  enjoys  a  higher 
authority,  that  which  it  holds  in  virtue 
of  the  sentiment  which  it  expresses.  To 
his  mind  the  arbitrary  precepts  of  the 
Law  undoubtedly  came  from  God  as  well 
as  all  the  others,  and  yet  he  pays  no  atten- 
tion to  them  because  he  sums  up  the  whole 
Law  in  love  to  God  and  to  one's  neighbor. 

This  continual  spiritualization  is,  then, 
the  proper  character  of  Jesus'  language. 
If  the  maxim  "  The  style  is  the  man  "  is 
not  always  true,  it  is  absolutely  so  of 
Jesus,  because  there  is  an  entire  harmony 
between  his  thought  and  the  language  of 
which  he  made  use  in  expressing  it.  This 
is  why  the  study  of  Jesus'  method  of 
teaching  has  an  exceptional  importance, 
which  springs  out  of  the  very  heart  of 
his  teaching. 

Jesus  had  not  a  doctrine  like  the 
philosophers,  like  Plato  or  Aristotle.  He 
did  not  co*ne  to  demonstrate  new  truths 
as  destined  to  supersede  the  old  truths  ; 
but  he  did  come  to  draw  a  new  life  out  of 
the  old  forms,  while  keeping  the  forms 
such  as  they  had  been  ;  and  his  language 
was  always  thoroughly  Judaic  and  Oriental, 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  37 

although  we  hear  it  only  through  the  Greek 
translations  of  the  disciples. 

Such,  then,  was  the  language  of  Jesus, 
and  such  were  the  beginnings  of  that 
ministry  which  was  so  soon  to  end  in  the 
disaffection  of  the  multitude,  the  hatred 
of  the  Pharisees,  unpopularity.  It  began 
in  hope  and  joy.  Jesus  by  his  word 
exercised  an  extraordinary,  an  immense, 
ascendancy  over  the  people.  His  renown 
was  great,  and  the  sympathy  of  the 
multitudes  became  absolutely  his. 

If  it  was  a  limited  circle  in  which  he 
was  active,  if  he  was  almost  unknown  in 
Jerusalem,  still  his  Galilean  discourses 
were  fully  accepted  and  aroused  general 
approbation.  His  only  weapon  was  the 
word,  inviting  the  consent  of  the  heart. 
No  doubt  he  attacked  the  official  repre- 
sentatives of  Judaism,  but  the  people  ap- 
proved, and  true  Pharisees  aj^proved  also. 

What  a  unique  appearance  was  that  of 
this  gentle  and  compassionate  Rabbi,  —  a 
sort  of  Pharisee,  to  be  sure,  but  a  very  new, 
ver}»-  liberal  Pharisee,  who  spiritualized 
everything  he  said,  and  transformed  every- 
thing he  touched  !  A  sort  of  Essene,  no 
doubt,  but  only  in  appearance,  for  no  one 


38  JESUS   CHRIST 

was  more  irreconcilably  than  he  the  ad- 
versary of  narrow  legalism  and  exterior 
purifications. 

We  picture  to  ourselves  the  Master  and 
his  disciples  going  about  in  Galilee,  or 
perhaps  in  the  common  room  of  their 
little  house;  there  they  sit  after  the 
Eastern  manner,  squatting  close  together 
upon  a  rug,  turban  on  head,  and  wrapped 
about  with  their  long  mantles.  Sometimes 
they  talk  and  put  questions  one  to  another  : 
sometimes  after  a  long  silence  Jesus 
slowly  utters  a  sententious  saying  and 
then  is  again  silent.  The  disciples,  with 
eyes  half  closed  and  intent  manner,  listen 
and  remember.  Their  impeccable,  faultless 
memories  will  never  lose  a  word.  The 
Master's  utterance  is  now  as  if  graven  on 
their  hearts  ;  more  than  that,  it  may  well 
be  that  he  will  often  repeat  it.  At  last 
the  Master  speaks  again;  this  time  to 
whisper  softly  the  explanation  of  the 
parable  which  a  little  while  before  he  had 
spoken  at  the  lakeside,  under  the  brilliant 
light  of  the  noonday  sun  ;  and  he  adds, 
"What  I  say  unto  you  in  secret,  that 
proclaim  upon  the  housetops."  ^ 

1  Matt.  X.  27  ;  Luke  xii.  3. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  39 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  EARLIEST   TEACHINGS   OF   JESUS 

JESUS  began  his  work  as  a  Rabbi,  as  an 
itinerant  preacher,  as  a  physician  of 
soul  and  body  ;  such  were  already  a  certain 
number  of  his  contemporaries.  One  is  at 
first  tempted  to  say  that  there  is  nothing 
more  than  this  in  the  words  of  Jesus  and 
the  acts  which  he  did.  He  seemed  to  have 
no  fixed  plan.  He  lived  from  day  to  day. 
The  cares  of  each  day  were  sufficient  for 
him  ;  he  performed  the  work  which  pre- 
sented itself,  replying  to  the  questions  that 
were  asked  him,  and  uttering  the  sayings 
which  were  suggested  by  the  circumstances 
of  the  moment. 

People  often  came  to  consult  him,  as 
they  would  have  consulted  a  Doctor  of  the 
Law.  He  laid  down  the  law  ;  he  spoke 
with  authority  :  his  opinions  were  good  to 
know,  and  he  gave  his  views  exactly  as 
Hillel  or  Shammai  might  have  done  and 
actually  did. 


40  JESUS  CHRIST 

He  took  liis  own  wherever  he  found  it. 
On  the  subject  of  divorce,  for  example, 
he  ranged  himself  beside  Shammai.^  On 
other  and  more  numerous  points  he  holds 
rather  the  views  of  Hillel  ;  thus  what 
he  says  about  justice,^  which  indeed  is 
also  to  be  found  in  Tobias,^  was  one  of 
Hillel's  well-known  formulas,*  and  his 
words  about  judging,  "  Judge  not,  that  ye 
be  not  judged,"  ^  were  given  by  Hillel 
under  this  form  :  "  Judge  not  thy  neigh- 
bor until  thou  findest  thyself  in  his  posi- 
tion." 6 

Sometimes  Jesus  would  reproduce  what 
the  Old  Testament  had  already  said  ;  some- 
times he  would  give  a  new  opinion  ;  but 
that  which  seems  new  to  us  was  not  al- 
ways such,  and  no  doubt  it  often  occurred 
that  he  repeated  words  which  he  had  heard 
in  the  synagogue. 

He  reprehended  the  law  of  retaliation; 
it  would  appear  that  no  one  had  done 
so  before  him.'^  He  condemned  usury.^ 
Deuteronomy  had   already  condemned  it, 

1  Matt.  V.  ?A,  32  ;  Luke  xvi.  18. 

2  Matt.  vii.  12  ;  Luke  vi.  31.  3  Tob.  i.  16. 

*  Babyl.  Talmud,  Shuhhath,  31  a.  ^  Matt.  vii.  1. 

6  Vide  Babyl.  Kethuboth,  105  b. 

">  Matt.  V.  38.  8  Matt.  v.  42. 


DURING  HIS  All N I  ST R  Y  41 

but  usage  authorized  it.  He  said  that  one 
should  not  make  a  display  of  devotion, 
like  the  Pharisees,  —  that  one  should  per- 
form his  alms  in  secret  ;  ^  it  had  already 
been  said.^  The  maxim  "  If  a  man  smite 
thee  on  the  one  cheek,  turn  to  him  the 
other  "  3  recalls  a  similar  saying  of  Jere- 
miah ;  *  but  the  counsel  to  pluck  out  the 
eye  and  cut  off  the  hand  wliich  cause  to 
offend^  has  nowhere  an  analogue,  to  our 
knowledge. 

The  duty  of  loving  one's  enemies^  re- 
calls similar  words  to  be  read  in  the  Tal- 
mud,'^ and  it  cannot  be  said  that  the 
Talmudists  borrowed  these  passages  from 
the  Gospel,  for  a  wall  of  separation  was 
built  up  between  the  synagogue  and  the 
church  down  to  the  tliirteenth  century, 
and  down  to  that  epoch  neither  exercised 
any  influence  upon  the  other. 

"  Forgive  and  you  shall  be  forgiven,"  is 

1  Matt.  vi.  1  ff. 

2  Eccles.  xvii.  18,  xxix.  15  ;  Babyl.  Chagiga,  5  a  ; 
Babahathra,  9  b.  Cf.  Isa.  i.  11  f.,  Iviii.  ;  Hos.  vi.  6  ;  Mai. 
i.  10  f .,  which  prepared  the  way  for  such  precepts. 

3  Matt.  V.  39  f .  ;  Luke  vi.  29.  *  Lam.  iii.  30. 
6  Matt.  V.  29-30,  xviii.  9  ;  Mark  ix.  47,  48. 

6  Matt.  V.  44  ;  Luke  vi.  27. 

7  Babyl.  Shabbath,  88  b.  ;  Joma,  23  a. 


42  JESUS  CHRIST 

in  the  Old  Testament.^  "Be  merciful  as 
your  heavenly  Father  is  merciful,"  also 
recalls  an  almost  identical  rabbinical  utter- 
ance ;  ^  and  upon  almsgiving,  pity,  good 
works,  Idndness  of  heart,  disinterestedness, 
the  duty  of  seeking  for  peace,  Jesus  said 
only  what  the  Old  Testament  had  already 
said,^  and  what  the  synagogue  around 
him  repeated,  what  he  had  heard  from  his 
childliood.* 

He  sanctified  celibacy,  as  the  Essenes 
did  ;  like  them,  he  forbade  oaths,  and  it  is 
not  to  be  doubted  that  he  borrowed  this 
interdiction  from  Essenism. 

For  that  matter,  this  question  was  much 
discussed.  Even  those  who  allowed  the 
oath  recognized  cases  where  it  was  to  be 
forbidden.  These  cases  were  many;  still 
more  numerous,  however,  were  those  where 
it  was  permitted.  Under  such  circum- 
stances it  was  an  oath  ;  under  such  others 
it  was  not  an  oath,  even  though  men  had 
solemnly  sworn.^ 

Ï  Lev.  xix.  18  ;  Prov.  xx.  22  ;  Eccles.  xxviii.  1  f . 

2  Siphre,  51  b. 

3  Deut.  xxiv.,  XXV.,  xxvi.  etc.  ;  Isa.  Iviii.  7  ;  Prov. 
xix.  17  ;  etc. 

*  Pirke  Ahoth,  1  Jerus.  Peah,  i.  1;  Babyl.  Shahbath, 
63  a. 

6  Talmud, /S/ifio/iV^,  ch.  3,  4;  and  Berakoth,  fol.  55. 


DURING  HIS  3IIN1STRY  43 

Jesus  swept  away  all  this  casuistry  by 
saying,  "  Swear  not  at  all."  ^  As  to  the 
law,  it  forbade  only  perjury.^ 

Jesus,  then,  was  a  Rabbi,  and  a  Rabbi  of 
his  own  time.  Many  of  his  precepts  ex- 
plain themselves  when  one  puts  himself 
into  the  surroundings  in  which  they  were 
spoken,  and  compares  the  identical  words 
uttered  by  the  Doctors  of  his  time.  The 
questions  which  were  put  to  him  at  Jerusa- 
lem, in  the  Temple,  in  the  very  latest  days 
of  his  life,  concerning  tribute,  concerning 
marriage  in  the  futiu-e  life,  those  which  he 
himself  at  that  time  asked  concerning  the 
Davidic  origin  of  the  Messiah,  are  samples 
of  the  questions  which  Pharisees  of  differ- 
ent shades  of  thought  put  to  one  another. 

But  when  Jesus  did  not  reply  to  the 
questions  which  were  put  to  him  as  Rabbi, 
he  was  following  his  habitual  method  :  to 
abolish  nothing,  to  fulfil  everything.  He 
himself  explained  his  attitude  by  the  cele- 
brated maxim,  "Every  scribe  instructed 
in  the  things  of  the  kingdom  is  like  a 
man  who  is  a  householder,  who  bringeth 

where  are  mentioned  all  the  oaths  touched  upon  by 
Jesus  ;  the  Temple,  Jerusalem,  are  mentioned. 
1  Matt.  V.  34.  2  Lev.  xix.  12  ff. 


44  JESUS  CHRIST 

forth  from  his  treasury  things  new  and 
old."  1  This  expression,  to  be  under- 
stood, should  not  be  separated  from  that 
other  formula,  "  Abolish  nothing  ;  fulfil  all 
things." 

It  is  true  that,  at  a  first  glance,  one  is 
tempted  to  believe  that  Jesus  preached  two 
classes  of  truths,  —  one  of  them  ancient, 
taken  from  the  Old  Testament,  which  he 
cited  just  as  they  were,  without  change  ; 
the  other  new,  discovered  by  himself,  and 
more  or  less  revolutionary.  His  teachings 
would  in  that  case  be  a  medley  of  ancient 
traditions  which  he  thought  worthy  of 
preservation,  and  truths  entirely  unknown 
before  his  day,  which  he  had  drawn  from 
his  own  resources  ;  and  in  that  case  we, 
studying  his  teachings  to-day,  would  have 
to  perform  a  work  of  separation,  saying  of 
one  precept,  "  it  was  new  ;  "  of  another,  "  it 
was  old  ;  "  here  Jesus  brought  out  original 
ideas,  there  ideas  which  were  not  original. 
In  fact,  a  few  moments  ago  we  pointed  out 
one  and  another  gospel  precept  which  has 
no  analogue  anywhere  ;  and  others  which, 
on  the  contrary,  were  well  known  before 
Jesus'   time.     But   Jesus  himself  did  not 

1  Matt.  xiii.  52. 


DURING  niS  MINISTRY  45 

in  the  least  do  this,  and  we  must  interpret 
his  saying  about  the  man  who  brings  forth 
fi'om  his  treasury  things  new  and  okl  in 
this  way  :  he  had  studied  the  religion  of 
his  people,  their  sacred  books,  and  of  this 
Old  Testament,  which  —  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  —  he  read  through  the  medium 
of  the  theology  of  his  time,  he  made  a 
treasury.  This  treasury  is  therefore  com- 
posed of  things  of  the  past,  but  it  was 
Jesus  who  made  it,  and  it  was  he  who 
drew  from  it  ;  and  thus  these  antique 
truths,  which  were  wholly  old,  became  new 
when  they  had  passed  through  the  crucible 
of  his  personal  experience  and  were  ut- 
tered by  him.  They  were  at  once  old  and 
new.  It  is  the  ancient  heritage  which  he 
gave  to  his  disciples,  but  not  until  he  had 
transformed  it  ;  the  old  and  the  new  are 
fused  in  a  higher  unity,  nothing  is  abol- 
ished, all  is  fulfilled. 

This  method  of  Jesus  is  eternally  true. 
At  the  present  day,  for  example,  Christian 
dogmatics  ought  to  be  transformed  and 
entirely  made  over.  It  never  will  be 
done  in  a  fruitful  way  unless  Cln-istians 
preserve  all  the  past,  blotting  out  not  one 
of  the   old  dogmas,  those   dogmas  which 


46  JESUS   CHRIST 

before  their  time  were  the  spiritual  and 
moral  force  of  so  many  generations,  but 
introducing  into  each  one  a  new  life,  a 
vital  principle,  which  will  rejuvenate  and 
transform  it. 

It  is  therefore  an  error  to  classify  method- 
ically the  various  points  of  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  and  find  a  system  of  doctrine  in  Ids 
words,  —  to  say,  for  example,  that  he  taught 
this  about  God,  that  about  men.  This  is 
entirely  to  misunderstand  the  unique  and 
essential  character  of  Jesus'  teacliing, 
which  was  to  preach  his  own  person.^ 
He  tells  us  what  he  is,  and  gives  himself 
out  for  just  what  he  is.  He  reveals  his 
soul.  He  tells  what  he  feels,  thinks,  ex- 
periences, with  an  entire  and  absolute 
spontaneity  and  sincerity. 

It  is  therefore  impossible  to  put  this 
teaching  into  formulas  ;  it  is  necessary  to 
rid  ourselves  of  the  idea  that  there  is  a 
doctrine  of  Jesus  independent  of  his  per- 
son. What  Jesus  taught  was  himself. 
He  preached  himself,  —  a  thing  that  St. 
Paul  would  not  do.  For  example,  when 
Jesus  taught  that  God  is  the   Heavenly 

1  We  shall  return  to  this  thought  and  develop  it 
in  our  last  chapter,  "  The  llequirements  of  Jesus." 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  47 

Father,  he  was  not  seeking  to  inculcate 
a  doctrine  of  God.  He  did  not  give  out 
any  opinions  about  God,  but  he  told  what 
God  was  to  him,  and  consequently  what 
he  is  absolutely.  He  was  possessed  with 
an  idea  which  was  to  him  a  certitude,  —  that 
God  was  in  him,  dwelt  in  him.  He  heard 
him,  talked  with  liim,  and  God's  words 
went  sounding  through  his  soul  ;  and  this 
is  why  he  preached  himself  and  asked  that 
others  should  give  themselves  to  him.^ 
From  the  beginning,  and  certainly  for  a 
long  time  before  liis  public  life,  he  had 
felt  himself  in  close  relations  with  God. 

Jesus,  then,  preserved  all  the  past  ;  with 
regard  to  God,  sin,  man,  the  reign  of  God, 
he  repeated  what  his  contemporaries  said. 
He  drew  everything  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  repeated  Jewish  doctrines  pure 
and  simple  ;  but  he  repeated  them  other- 
wise than  had  been  done  before  him, 
because  he  had  made  them  new  in  his 
own  consciousness. 

IVIore  than  this,  he  not  only  transformed 
these  precepts,  not  only  gave  to  them  a 
value  which  makes  them  seem  new,  but 
he  further,  and  especially,   put  them   in 

1  Matt.  ix.  9. 


48  JESUS   CHRIST 

practice.  Why,  indeed,  had  not  these 
maxims,  which  were  already  in  the  Law 
and  on  the  lips  of  pious  and  sincere  Phari- 
sees, —  why  had  they  not  changed  the 
world,  and  how  was  it  that  Jesus  changed 
it?  Because  Jesus  was  the  first  one  to 
practise  and  live  them.  We  may  prove 
that  the  gospel  morality  was  not  itself 
very  original,  we  may  gather  together  the 
whole  of  it  from  ancient  maxims  ;  and  yet 
it  Avas  only  in  the  first  century  that  these 
transformed  the  world,  made  it  new,  and 
actually  recreated  it.  He  not  only  gave 
the  perfect  code  of  the  perfect  life  ;  he  lived 
it.  For  this  reason  that  in  him  which  was 
striking,  that  which  drew  hearts  to  him, 
was  not  his  charm,  as  has  been  said,  but 
the  perfection  of  his  life,  —  the  fact  that  he, 
first  of  all  men,  was  perfect  as  the  Father 
is  perfect. 

Let  us  be  more  circumstantial,  studying 
at  yet  closer  range  the  spirit  of  his  teach- 
ing, comparing  it  with  that  of  the  men  of 
his  time. 

The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  said  that  the 
Law  was  the  final  authority.  In  it  God 
spoke.  In  the  Torah  was  the  exterior 
commandment,  before  the  letter  of  which 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  49 

all  must  bow.  It  was  the  word  of  God  in 
the  narrowest  and  strictest  sense  of  the 
word.  Jesus  would  certainly  not  have 
repudiated  this  statement.  But  what  did 
the  Scribes  draw  from  it  ?  A  servile  fear 
of  violating  a  single  one  of  these  com- 
mandments ;  a  subtle  interpretation  of 
the  simplest  texts  ;  a  multitude  of  precepts 
before  which  they  continually  trembled  in 
the  fear  of  violating  them.  Here  Jesus 
parted  company  with  them.  He  believed 
in  the  exterior  authority  of  the  Law,  but 
he  changed  it  to  an  interior  authority. 
Even  during  his  long  years  of  silent  ob- 
scurity he  had  begun  to  have  sacred 
experiences  ;  and  one  of  them,  the  foun- 
dation of  his  religious  certitude,  was 
communion  with  God. 

In  the  depths  of  his  soul  he  had  a  secret 
conviction  which  was  to  be  identified,  which 
could  not  but  be  identified,  with  the  com- 
mandments of  the  Law,  because,  like  them, 
it  spoke  only  the  truth.  He  was  assured 
of  the  approbation  of  his  Father  ;  and 
thus,  when  he  was  confronted  by  the  Law, 
which  also  came  from  the  Father,  it  was 
not  a  question  of  obeying  precepts  which 
threaten,  command,  forbid,  like  the  slave 
4 


50  JESUS  CHRIST 

who  knows  not  what  his  master  does,  and 
who  obeys  because  his  master  is  the  strong- 
est, but  of  keeping  the  Law  by  identifying 
it  with  the  inward  law,  the  law  of  con- 
science, the  will  of  the  Father.  It  was 
not,  then,  the  exterior  law  to  which  man 
must  submit,  but  the  moral  conscience 
regenerated  and  set  free  by  the  Father, 
who  has  mercy  and  forgives. 

Jesus  left  on  one  side  all  which  in  the 
Law  is  literal  application  and  minute  cas- 
uistry ;  he  paid  no  attention  to  it.  It  said 
nothing  to  him,  because  it  remained  out- 
side of  him,  and  those  things  which  were 
neither  felt  nor  experienced  were  as  if 
non-existent.  But  he  declared  to  be  eter- 
nal all  that  is  the  Avill  of  God,  all  that 
his  own  soul  revealed  to  him.  He  found 
in  his  soul  the  law  of  perfection.  It  was 
already  in  the  Old  Testament,  "Be  ye 
holy  ;  "  but  he  declared  that  it  could  not 
be  accomplished  simply  by  fulfilling  the 
Mosaic  laws.  The  sentiments  of  men's 
hearts  must  be  changed.  He  rose  from 
the  act  to  the  sentiment  which  dictated  it  ; 
it  was  the  sentiment  which  should  be  per- 
fect. The  thought  of  evil  was  as  culpable 
as  the  evil  itself;    and   thus  he   reached 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  51 

a  law  as  rigorous  and  as  impossible  to 
keep  as  that  of  the  Old  Testament,  though 
for  a  different  reason.  "  Unless  your  right- 
eousness exceeds  that  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,"  he  said  to  his  hearers,  "  ye  can- 
not enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  ^  The 
commandment  ceased  to  be  limited  by  be- 
coming an  inward  command.  To  be  per- 
fect as  the  Father  is  was  what  conscience 
demanded,  and  it  could  demand  nothing 
less. 

This  transformation  from  the  letter  to 
the  spirit,  from  the  exterior  to  the  inward 
law,  from  blind  and  trembling  submission 
to  free  and  joyful  faith,  led  Jesus  quite 
simply  and  naturally  to  an  inevitable  con- 
clusion, which  he  early  began  to  preach,  — 
that  rites  have  no  importance.  The  Tem- 
ple would  pass  away,  and  forms,  which 
indeed  had  been  inevitable,  were  nothing. 
No  doubt  he  did  not  annul  them  ;  he  abol- 
ished nothing.  After  his  departure  an 
entire  wing  of  liis  Church  continued  to 
profess  Judaism;  the  so-called  Judaizing 
Christians  went  to  synagogue  and  Temple, 
recited  the  Shema,  and,  when  men  ex- 
pressed surprise  at  this,  were  able  to  an- 
1  Matt.  V.  20. 


52  JESUS  CEE  1ST 

swer,  "  Jésus  did  thus  ;  "  and  it  was  true. 
To  the  end  of  his  life  Jesus  went  to  the 
synagogue.  He  celebrated  the  Jewish 
Passover  on  the  eve  of  his  death.  He 
did,  indeed,  institute  Baptism  and  the 
Eucharist,  but  in  the  earlier  days  he  said 
nothing  about  these.  In  his  view,  inde- 
pendence of  conscience  ought  to  be  entire. 
Every  man  is  responsible  only  to  his  in- 
ward guide.  The  religious  and  the  moral 
life  ought  to  act  and  react  upon  each 
other. 

In  the  early  days  of  his  ministry,  then, 
Jesus  taught  no  religious  practice.  His 
religion  consisted  wholly  in  an  immediate, 
personal  relation  between  the  soul  and  the 
Heavenly  Father.  He  placed  no  interme- 
diate clergy  between  God  and  the  believer. 
He  repudiated  all  forms  wliich  touched 
only  the  body.i     He  rejected  tradition. 

All  tliis  was  not  absolutely  new.  Simon 
the  Just,  Jesus  ben-Sirach,  and  Hillel  had 
already  sumûied  up  the  Law  in  the  precept 
of  righteousness.  Philo  had  preached  a 
high  moral  sanctity,  and  had  held  practices 
in  slight  esteem.  Rabbi  Johanan  had  put 
works  of  mercy  above  even  the  study  of 
1  Matt.  XV.  11  ff.  ;  Mark  vii.  6  fE. 


DURING  HIS  M  mis  THY  53 

the  Law.i  Jesus  continued,  completed,  and 
went  beyond  these  teachers.  In  his  view, 
true  worsliip  consisted  in  having  a  pure 
heart  and  treating  all  men  as  brothers  .^ 
The  act  was  of  small  importance  ;  the 
important  thing  was  the  inward  sentiment 
which  inspired  it.  In  this  position  he  was 
no  longer  a  Jew,  for  to  the  true  Jew  the 
rite  was  everj^hing.  Whatever  might  be 
the  inward  disposition,  it  was  simply  neces- 
sary to  put  oneself  on  right  terms  with 
God  by  performing  the  rite.  No  doubt 
Jesus  said  that  the  tithe  must  be  paid, 
even  "  of  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,"  ^ 
for  the  Law  ordains  it,  and  he  never  abol- 
ished one  stroke  of  the  letter  of  the  Law  ; 
but  he  rejected  the  Pharisaic  casuistry  on 
the  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  he  did  not 
abstain  from  certain  meats,  and  he  did  not 
make  a  point  of  fasting.  It  was  all  one, 
whether  or  not  one  practised  these  exter- 
nal acts.  He  had  no  wish  to  make  an 
abrupt  change  in  common  usage  ;  he 
wished  only  to  change  men's  hearts, 
secure,  in  advance,  that  when  the  heart 
was  changed  the  external  change  would 

1  Jerus.  Peak.  i.  1.  2  cf.  Jas.  i.  27. 

8  Matt,  xxiii.  23. 


54  JESUS    CHRIST 

follow  of  itself.  He  gave  no  decree  doing 
away  with  one  tiling,  retaining  another, 
but  he  implanted  the  inward  leaven  which 
little  by  little  would  work  through  the 
dough,  transforming  it  and  making  it  a 
new  material. 

It  is  hard  for  us  to  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  such  a  work,  because  with  our  modern 
philosophical  notions  we  can  picture  to 
ourselves  only  a  pure  reform  of  ideas  and 
doctrines,  a  direct  reformation.  "  This 
is  true,  do  it;  that  is  false,  believe  it  no 
longer;  replace  it  with  this  or  that  new 
belief."  But  Jesus  was  of  his  own  time, 
and  had  nothing  to  do  with  ours.  He  was 
born  a  Jew  ;  he  was  thoroughly  religious, 
and  imbued  with  theocratic  notions.  God 
was  the  master,  he  was  the  Messiah,  and 
his  purpose  Avas  to  prepare  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Messianic  kingdom.  Now  his 
people  Avith  their  Law  and  their  prophets 
were  tending  toward  this  kingdom.  The 
theocracy  erf  Israel  would  be  perfected 
when  the  kingdom  had  come.  The  object 
to  reach  was  its  coming. 

How  could  it  be  reached  ?  By  making 
an  advance  upon  the  past,  —  a  step  forward, 
but  without  rupture,  and  on  the  lines  of 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  55 

the  past.  Jesus  was  certain  that  the  an- 
cient Law  had  prepared  for  what  he  had 
come  to  do.  The  people  also  were  prepar- 
ing for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  by  the 
practice  of  the  Law.  And  they  must  com- 
plete this  preparation  by  continuing  to 
practise  it  ;  but  in  order  to  complete  and 
fulfil  it  they  must  go  beyond  the  letter. 
The  members  of  the  kingdom  to  come 
were  called  from  that  moment  to  be  sons 
of  God,  children  of  the  Father  ;  and  enter- 
ing with  him  into  the  relations  of  children 
with  a  father,  they  would  be  in  new 
and  higher  relations  with  God.  Formerly 
slaves,  keeping  the  commandments  literally 
and  by  compulsion,  they  would  now  be 
doing  the  will  of  God  and  filled  with  his 
Spirit,  because  they  were  in  personal  com- 
munion with  him.i 

Thus  there  resulted  a  new  moral  obliga- 
tion for  every  disciple  of  Jesus.  A  son  of 
the  Father,  he  must  serve  him,  obey  him, 
do  his  will  ;  but  all  this  service  must  be 
done  by  love.  He  will  obey  because  of 
his  confidence  ;  he  has  faith  in  his  Father. 
The  will  of  God  toward  him  is  an  act  of 
kindness.    New  motives  unknown  till  then 

1  Matt.  V.  9,  45-48;  vi.  6,  8,  9,  14,  26,  32;  vii.  11. 


56  JESUS   CHRIST 

will  be  born  in  bis  soul,  —  love,  confidence, 
submission,  yielding  to  tlie  Father's  will. 

In  this  Jesus  created  a  truly  new 
religion,  and  his  supreme  purpose  in  creat- 
ing it  was  to  save  his  people  ;  that  is,  to 
prepare  them  for  the  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  There  was  never  any  thought 
in  these  early  teachings  of  a  possible  vio- 
lent death  in  the  future,  by  which  Jesus 
purposed  to  accomplish  salvation.  He 
simply  preached  a  new  relation  between 
God  and  man,  a  new  covenant;  and  this 
is  in  fact  a  new  religion.  The  way  of 
salvation  which  he  opened  and  offered 
was  the  Father's  forgiveness.  When  the 
Father  should  have  forgiven  men,  the  age 
to  come  would  begin.  And  the  Father 
forgives  those  who  forgive  ;  ^  he  receives 
the  penitent  prodigal. 

The  conditions  of  entrance  into  the 
kingdom,  then,  were  repentance,  trust, 
a  change  of  heart.  He  who  fulfilled  these 
would  receive  a  great  reward  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  provided  he  had  done  the 

1  Matt.  vi.  14  ;  Mark  xi.  25  ;  Matt,  xviii.  35  ;  Luke 
vi.  37  ;  etc.  Jesus  never  attached  any  other  condition 
to  the  forgiveness  of  God  than  the  forgiveness  which 
men  extend  to  their  brethren. 


DURING    HIS  MINISTRY  57 

will  of  God  and  put  Jesus'  teachings  into 
practice.  The  tree  would  be  known  by 
its  fruit.  Those  who  had  loved,  forgiven, 
done  good  to  the  poor  and  suffering  would 
enter  the  kingdom.  Upon  this  point 
Jesus'  teaching  never  varied.  In  a  para- 
ble of  liis  latest  days  he  declared  that 
those  who  should  be  placed  at  his  right 
hand  and  enter  eternal  life  would  be  those 
who  had  fed  the  hungry,  given  drink  to  the 
thirsty,  visited  those  who  were  sick  and  in 
prison.  The  Jews  said,  Practise  the  Law 
and  you  will  be  worthy  of  the  kingdom. 
Jesus  said.  Do  the  will  of  God  and  you 
will  be  the  son  of  God.  The  Lord's  Prayer 
remains  the  loftiest  expression  of  this  high 
conception  of  the  relations  of  man  with 
God,  which  is  the  whole  of  the  religion 
first  taught  by  Jesus.  We  must  bear  in 
mind,  when  we  study  this  prayer,  that 
Jesus  said  at  the  same  time  that  the 
Father  knows  what  things  we  have  need 
of  before  we  ask  for  them.^ 

The  teaching  of  Jesus  in  this  early 
period  is,  then,  not  to  be  distinguished  from 
a  large,  tolerant  Pharisaism,  taking  a  long 
step  forward.     Most  of  his  aphorisms  were 

1  Matt.  vi.  8. 


58  JESUS   CHRIST 

borrowed  from  the  Old  Testament  or  from 
the  Rabbis  who  preceded  him.  He  was 
persuaded  that  true  Pharisees  would  ap- 
prove of  his  ideas  of  reform,  just  as  Luther 
was  at  first  persuaded  that  he  was  doing 
the  work  of  a  good  Catholic,  and  would  be 
approved  of  by  the  Church  and  its  rulers. 
In  the  same  way  Jesus  expected  to  be 
approved  by  every  one,  welcomed  by  every 
one  ;  he  deemed  that  he  was  doing  nothing 
but  what  every  true  zealot  of  the  Law 
could  do  and  ought  to  do.  Full  of  confi- 
dence himself,  he  inspired  confidence.  He 
had  as  yet  very  few  disciples,  pi-operly  so 
called,  but  he  was  reaching  consciences,  he 
was  touching  hearts  ;  his  word  was  sink- 
ing deep  into  men's  souls. 


DURING  niS  MINISTRY  59 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  MESSIAH   AND   HIS   WORK 

T  N  our  first  volume  we  affirmed  that  from 
the  beginning  of  his  ministry  Jesus 
believed  himself  to  be  the  Messiah.  He 
would  not  be  a  Messiah  instigating  a  revo- 
lution, like  Judas  the  Gaulonite  or  any 
other  zealot,  but  he  was  the  Messiah. 

It  would  seem  at  first  view  as  though 
the  conviction  of  his  Messianic  dignity  had 
been  of  slow  growth.  In  fact,  all  that  we 
have  said  of  him  up  to  this  time  shows 
simply  the  work  of  a  Rabbi.  He  began 
by  preaching,  like  John  the  Baptist. 
Would  he  have  done  so  if  at  that  time  he 
had  believed  himself  to  be  any  other  than 
also  a  forerunner?  More  than  this,  it  is 
certain  that  he  did  not  reveal  himself  to 
his  apostles  as  Messiah  until  a  much  later 
time,  only  a  year  before  his  death.  ^  In 
these  early  days  he  was  simply  one  of  those 

1  Matt.  xvi.  13-20. 


60  JESUS    CHRIST 

itinerant  preachers  frequently  to  be  met  in 
Palestine  at  that  time,  trying  to  do  some 
good,  healing  the  sick,  casting  out  demons, 
preaching  the  love  of  the  Law,  and  each 
in  his  own  way  preparing  for  the  coming 
of  the  kingdom. 

All  this  is  true,  and  nevertheless  Jesus 
already  at  this  time  (and,  as  we  have  shown, 
since  the  Temptation)  had  not  the  slightest 
doubt  as  to  his  own  person.  He  was  the 
very  Messiah.  This  conviction  had  been 
forming  itself  from  his  youth,  and  he  came 
forth  from  his  desert-testing  absolutely 
convinced  that  the  Messianic  prophecies 
were  to  be  fulfilled  in  him,  and  that  he 
was  to  be  the  hero  of  the  Apocalypses  of 
his  people. 

More  than  this,  Jesus  never  said,  like 
John  the  Baptist,  that  he  was  only  a  pre- 
cursor; and  he  never  limited  himself,  as 
John  did,  to  arousing  Israel  to  duty.  He 
clearly  performed  a  Messianic  work.  It 
was  the  Messiah  who,  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  opposed  his  "But  /  say  unto 
you"  to  "Moses  has  said  to  you."i  It 
was  the  Messiah  who  declared  that  John 
the  Baptist  had  no  part  in  the  new  dispen- 
1  Matt.  V.  22, 28, 32, 34,  etc. 


DURING  ni^  MIXISTRY  61 

sation  ;  who  uttered  sovereign  menaces  and 
promises  concerning  Bethsaida  and  Caper- 
naum ;  '  who  declared  himself  to  be  greater 
than  Jonas,  than  Solomon,  than  the 
Temple  and  the  Temple  worship  ;2  who 
called  himself  the  Bridegroom,^  thus  justi- 
fying the  violation  of  the  Sabbath;  who 
forgave  the  sins  of  the  paralytic  ;  ^  who 
assumed  the  name  Son  of  Man.^ 

No  doubt  he  said,  "The  kingdom  is 
coming!"  and  it  seems  more  natural  that 
Jesus,  believing  himself  to  be  the  Messiah, 
should  have  said,  "  The  kingdom  is  come,  is 
present."  This  is  to  misunderstand  at  once 
the  Messianic  ideas  of  Jesus'  contempora- 
ries, and  the  views  which  Jesus  held  about 
himself.  According  to  Jewish  notions, 
the  Messiah  was  to  remain  for  a  certain 
time  hidden,  occupying  this  time  of  humili- 
ation in  preparing  for  the  Messianic  king- 
dom.^    Now,  this  is  precisely  the  line  of 

1  Matt.  xi.  21  ;  Luke  x.  13. 

2  Matt.  xii.  41  ;  Luke  xi.  32. 

8  Mark  ii.  19;  Matt.  ix.  15;  Luke  v.  35. 

<  Mark  ii.  5,  and  parallel  passages. 

6  Mark  ii.  10;  Matt.  viii.  20,  x.  23;  etc. 

«  Jerus.  Berakhoth,  fol.  51  ;  Mishna,  Snnhedr.  28.  See 
Luke  xxi.  8;  of.  Justin  Martyr,  Dial,  with  Tryph. 
chap.  viii. 


62  JESUS   CHRIST 

conduct  which  Jesus  chose,  and  which 
during  his  Galilean  ministry  he  carried 
out.  He  believed  that  at  this  time,  in  his 
actual  earthly  life,  he  had  Messianic  func- 
tions to  exercise.  After  that  the  kingdom 
would  appear,  and  then,  in  this  kingdom  to 
come,  he  would  be  the  judging  and  reign- 
ing Messiah.  But  he  believed  that  for  the 
time  (and  many  of  his  contemporaries  also 
believed  him  to  be  the  Messiah)  he  had  to 
live  a  humble  and  hidden  life,  the  life  of  a 
prophet  and  servant  of  God.  During  this 
period  of  poverty  and  humility  he  was  to 
prepare  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  of 
which  some  day,  and  doubtless  very  soon, 
he  should  be  the  glorious  head.  This  is 
what  Jesus  was  doing  in  Galilee. 

It  was,  then,  in  accordance  with  Jewish 
notions  of  his  time  that  Jesus  considered 
his  first  duty  as  Messiah  to  be  the  prepa- 
ration for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom,  —  a 
preparation  without  display,  in  which  he 
should  catry  out  the  designs  of  God,  and 
triumph  over  the  enemies  of  the  Law. 

This  preliminary  work  was  to  be  entirely 
Jewish.  It  was  later  that  Jesus  became 
unsectarian.  His  present  work  was  to 
prepare  Israel  alone  for  the  coming  of  the 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  63 

kingdom.  But  Israel  must  be  prepared; 
and  already  at  this  point  he  stood  apart 
from  the  Pharisees,  who  thought  that  the 
kingdom  was  to  be  Israel's  by  right. 
According  to  the  Apocalypses  of  the  time, 
the  pious  portion  of  the  nation  was  ripe 
for  Messianic  felicity;  the  nation  was 
faithful.  Jesus  did  not  think  so.  It 
needed  to  be  converted,  and  the  kingdom 
would  not  appear  until  it  was  converted. 
It  was  precisely  because  Jesus  knew 
that  upon  many  points  he  was  not  in  accord 
with  the  Pharisees  that  he  did  not  say 
openly,  "I  am  the  Messiah,"  but  limited 
himself  to  acting  as  the  Messiah.  Not 
being  in  the  slightest  degree,  not  in  the 
least  wishing  to  be,  the  vulgar  hero  which 
his  nation  was  expecting,  repudiating  all 
political  ambition,  being  persuaded  that 
the  Jews  would  not  be  ready  for  the  king- 
dom until  they  had  become  once  more  the 
true  sons  of  God,  he  did  not  proclaim 
himself  as  Messiah.  If  he  had  done  so, 
his  Messianic  conception  would  have 
clashed  with  that  of  the  Pharisees,  and 
produced  a  rupture.  Jesus  desired  to  avoid 
this  ;  he  wished  to  convert  his  people  and 
the  Pharisees  themselves  to  his  ideas. 


64  JESUS   CHRIST 

There  were  many  years  before  him,  as 
he  hoped.  We  know  that  it  was  not  to  be 
so,  —  that,  contrary  to  his  expectation,  he 
was  not  to  succeed,  that  a  rupture  was  one 
day  to  take  place.  Very  soon  he  came  to 
perceive  that  this  was  inevitable;  but  he 
exercised  every  care  to  delay  it  as  long  as 
possible,  and  he  refrained  from  saying  that 
he  was  the  Messiah,  in  order  to  avoid  any 
misapprehension.  The  first  thing  was  to 
prepare  the  ground;  and  he  would  not 
proclaim  himself  the  Messiah  until  hearts 
had  been  changed,  or  at  least  not  until  the 
change  had  been  begun. 

We  know  that  nothing  of  all  this  was 
destined  to  take  place.  The  Jews  were 
not  converted.  The  Pharisees  conspired 
to  kill  Jesus,  and  it  was  when  he  saw  that 
death  was  near,  close  at  hand,  about  to 
carry  him  away  while  still  young,  that  he 
decided  to  communicate  to  the  apostles  in 
confidence  the  great  secret  which  they  had 
already  divined,  and  that  Peter  said  openly, 
"  Thou  art  the  Messiah  !  "  i 

But  let  us  not  anticipate.  At  the  hour 
at  which  we  have  now  arrived,  Jesus 
foresaw  nothing  of  this  dreadful  eventual- 

1  Matt.  xvi.  16. 


DURING   II I S   MINISTRY  65 

ity.  He  was  certain  of  only  one  thing,  — 
final  success.  He  did  not  know  when 
it  would  come,  he  did  not  know  how  it 
would  come;  but  he  firmly  hoped  that  it 
would  be  by  the  acceptance  of  his  Messi- 
anic person.  His  persuasion  of  success 
never  faltered.  For  the  moment,  sufficient 
to  each  day  was  its  evil  ;  he  would  not  bor- 
row care  for  the  morrow.  He  would  per- 
form the  humble  and  difficult  duty  of 
to-day.  That  of  to-morrow  would  perhaps 
be  still  more  difficult,  but  the  triumph 
which  could  not  fail  to  come  some  day 
would  be  the  recompense  and  result  of 
these  difficult  beginnings  and  of  his  fidel- 
ity in  doing  the  Father's  will.  Harvest 
after  seed-sowing  ;  and  he  would  be  there 
in  the  day  of  harvest.  He  was  preparing 
for  the  kingdom  with  difficulty  and  by 
painful  seed-sowing;  he  would  have  his 
day  of  glory,  and  he  expected  it  on  earth, 
in  a  future  which  could  not  be  very  far 
distant.  His  reward  would  be  the  conver- 
sion of  his  people. 

Jesus  was  essentially  an  optimist.     Op- 
timism is  one  of   those  original  and  dis- 
tinctive traits  of  his  character  which  we 
must  set  in  contrast  with  the  inveterate 
6 


66  JESUS  CHRIST 

pessimism  of  his  contemporaries.  Even 
with  the  most  pious  among  them  nothing 
in  the  present  was  satisfactory.  No  doubt, 
to  them  also  the  future  seemed  beautiful 
and  the  kingdom  of  God  near  ;  but  their 
hopes  were  of  the  earth,  earthy,  and  God 
was  far  off.  He  might  work  later,  but  he 
was  not  then  manifesting  himself. 

As  for  Jesus,  he  saw  God  everywhere, 
he  felt  his  agency  in  and  through  every- 
tliing  ;  and  this  faith  made  him  understand 
the  world  as  something  quite  other  than 
what  the  nation  saw  in  it.  No  doubt 
to  him  also  the  present  world  was  evil, 
corrupt,  wretched  ;  but  the  constant  joy  of 
his  life,  and  its  serene  affirmation,  was  the 
certainty  of  the  future  overthrow  of  evil, 
of  the  kingdom  of  darkness  and  of  the 
devil,  the  king  of  this  world.  The  Father 
was  living,  eternal  ;  he  lived  in  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  lived  in  him,  the  Son.  He 
knew,  he  saw,  he  believed  ;  he  was  certain  ; 
there  was  not  the  shadow  of  faltering  in 
his  faith,  particularly  in  his  faith  in  him- 
self. The  Jews  with  groans  of  pain  were 
awaiting  a  super-terrestrial  and  future  good. 
Jesus,  on  his  part,  shed  happiness  around 
him,  and  declared  his  disciples  to  be  happy 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  67 

from  that  very  moment,  because  they 
were  ready  to  enter  tlie  kingdom  ;  ah'eady 
by  anticipation  they  were  in  possession 
of  it. 

By  this  unalterable  optimism,  this  affirm- 
ation of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  in  which 
he  found  the  joy  of  his  soul,  Jesus  did  not 
in  reality  introduce  a  new  spirit  ;  he  carried 
out  ancient  prophecy.  The  Jewish  theo- 
logians of  his  time  misapprehended  the 
true  spirit  of  the  old  prophetism.  They  said 
God  is  far  from  men,  and  constructed  a 
complicated  angelology  of  which  the  proph- 
ets knew  nothing  ;  while  he  preached  no 
abstract  God,  far  withdrawn  from  men, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  taught  the  personal 
communion  of  the  soul  with  God,  the  cove- 
nant of  God  with  Israel.  The  Psalms  sang 
in  magnificent  strains  this  close  communion 
of  believers  with  Jehovah.  According  to 
the  Psalmists,  God  drew  near  to  the  nation 
by  the  Law.  He  was  not  a  far-off  and 
hidden  God  ;  he  was  a  Father,  moved  with 
compassion  for  his  children.  Those  who 
observe  the  Law  are  near  to  him.  The 
piety  of  Jesus  had  been  nourished  from 
his  infancy  on  these  words  of  the  psalm- 
bopk  of  his  people,  and  his  soul  was  thor- 


68  JESUS   CHRIST 

oughly  saturated  with  these  high  religious 
thoughts. 

Jesus,  then,  was  an  optimist,  and  he 
preached  a  moral  renovation  necessary  be- 
fore the  comingf  of  the  Messianic  era  and 
the  apparition  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ; 
for  though  the  victory  was  certain,  it  was 
to  be  dearly  bought:  it  was  imperative 
that  evil  should  be  vanquished.  Now, 
Jesus  had  a  most  lively  and  profound  sense 
of  man's  sin  and  wretchedness,  and  he  was 
full  of  compassion  for  the  suffering.  Evil 
under  any  of  its  forms  strongly  moved  him. 
He  suffered  because  of  evil,  which  comes 
from  Satan.  To  vanquish  Satan,  over- 
throw his  tlu'one,  should  be  his  Messianic 
work.  The  day  was  to  come  when  he 
would  say  in  his  unalterable  certainty  of 
triumph,  "I  beheld  Satan  fall  as  light- 
ning from  heaven."  ^  This  sublime  vision 
haunted  him.  This  Avas  the  end  to  be  at- 
tained and  which  should  be  attained. 

These  visions  sustained  him  in  the  strug- 
gle ;  but  the  struggle  was  incessant,  and, 
though  his  communion  with  the  Father 
was  an  inexhaustible  spring  of  joy,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  view  of  the  world  was  a 

i  1  Luke  X.  18. 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  69 

constant  source  of  suffering  to  his  loving- 
heart.  This  lively  sense  of  the  evil  in 
which  the  world  is  plunged  was  certainly 
one  of  the  most  potent  factors  of  his 
Messianic  vocation.  Satan  was  sure  to 
fall,  but  how  powerful  he  still  was  !  The 
kings  were  slaying  the  prophets,  the  doc- 
tors were  saying  and  not  doing,  the  good 
were  being  persecuted,  and  tears  were  the 
only  and  unique  portion  of  the  good;  in 
short,  the  world  was  the  enemy  of  God  and 
of  his  holy  ones.^ 

This  is  why  the  words  "he  was  moved 
with  compassion  "  are  continually  repeated 
in  the  Gospels.  Jesus  suffered  because  he 
loved  ;  hence  his  incessant  activity,  and  his 
longing  to  save  both  the  souls  and  the 
bodies  of  those  who  suffer. 

This,  then,  was  to  be  the  Messiah's 
work.  It  remains  for  us  to  point  out  one 
last  trait  which  distinguishes  his  idea  of 
preparation  for  the  kingdom  from  that 
taught  by  the  Jewish  doctors  of  his  time. 
The  Pharisees,  observing  that  nothing 
announced    the   approaching   fall   of    the 

1  John,  passm,  i.  10  ;  vii.  7;  xiv.  17,  22, 27  ;  xv.  18  ff.  ; 
xi.  8,  20,  33;  vii.  9,  14,  IG,  25;  xii.  31  ;  xiv.  30;  xvi.  11 
(cf.  2  Cor.  iv.  4;  Epli.  ii.  2). 


70  JESUS  CHRIST 

power  of  the  enemies  of  God  (pagans, 
Romans,  demons,  etc.),  concluded  there- 
fore that  their  destruction  was  to  be 
supernatural,  that  the  present  world  was 
given  over  to  evil,  and  that  the  palingenesis 
would  come  only  by  a  miracle,  an  obliga- 
tory forced  transformation.  They  said  also 
that  there  would  be  a  breach  of  continuity 
between  the  present  world  and  the  world 
to  come.  Now,  the  proj)hets  had  said  pre- 
cisely otherwise.  In  their  view  there  was  a 
bond  between  the  present  and  the  future. 
The  same  was  the  case  with  Jesus.  With 
the  aid  of  the  prophets  he  corrected  what 
he  found  to  be  erroneous  in  the  Apoca- 
lypses of  his  time  and  in  the  theology  of 
the  Pharisees.  The  bond  between  the 
present  and  the  past  would  be  found  in 
his  preacliing,  his  invitation  to  repentance, 
to  a  change  of  heart  and  life. 

According  to  the  Apocalypses,  a  sudden 
catastrophe  would  occur  and  the  present 
world  would  come  to  an  end  ;  then  heaven 
would  descend  upon  a  transformed  earth. 
The  Apocalypses  insist  upon  a  heyond,  of 
Avhich  the  prophets  have  said  nothing  ;  for 
in  their  view  all  that  they  announced  would 
take  place  in  the  present  world.     At  this 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  71 

point  Jesus  parts  company  with  them  ;  he 
also  affirms  the  beyond^  but  he  believes  in 
it  differently  from  his  people,  differently 
from  the  Apocalypses  of  his  people.  In 
the  view  of  the  Jews  of  his  time,  the  world, 
which  is  evil,  was  to  disappear,  and  the 
celestial  realities  which  would  follow  the 
beyond  would  be  the  satisfaction  of  earthly 
aspirations  and  longings.  The  glorification 
of  Israel  would  be  a  striking  vengeance 
of  the  elect  over  their  enemies.  But 
while  condemning  the  world,  they  did  not 
part  company  with  it.  The  best  among 
the  Pharisees  were  saying,  "  There  is  not 
much  more  to  hope  from  human  effort,  but 
the  Law  must  sui^ely  serve  to  assure  us 
good  places  in  the  kingdom.  Therefore 
we  must  keep  it  strictly,  not  that  we  may 
do  what  is  right,  but  that  we  may  acquire 
merit  before  God."  Thus  they  began  to 
lose  themselves  in  a  minute  casuistry.  As 
for  the  Essenes,  they  parted  company  with 
the  world  by  living  as  ascetics.  Jesus  also 
spoke  of  renunciation;  and  with  regard 
to  marriage,  with  regard  to  money,  he 
uttered  Essenian  precepts,  but  he  added 
that  in  order  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God 
one  must  be  born  anew,  —  be  regenerated. 


72  JESUS   C HEIST 

Grand  and  sublime  new  thought!  Ac- 
cording to  the  Pharisees,  whoever  observed 
the  Law  should  possess  the  coming  glory. 
This  glory  would  not  be  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  the  events  which  were  occur- 
ring; it  would  follow  as  a  supernatural 
intervention  of  God,  making  Israel  to  tri- 
umph over  his  enemies.  But  Jesus  taught 
that  man  must  fi^ht  ag^ainst  his  own  nature 
and  be  regenerated  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Jesus  then  apprehended  his  Messianic 
task  in  an  entirely  new  manner.  It  was  to 
consist  in  saving  his  people,  —  that  is  to  say, 
in  preparing  them  to  enter  the  kingdom. 
He  would  prepare  them  and  save  them  by 
making  of  them  a  humble,  repentant,  lowly, 
regenerated  people. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  this  work 
Jesus  had  faith  in  his  Father's  assistance. 
The  Father  works,  and  the  Son  also  works,^ 
and  by  prayer  continually  renews  his  spirit- 
ual strength.  He  therefore  made  appeal 
with  his  auditors  to  these  two  moral  powers 
of  which  he  himself  had  daily  experience,  — 
will  and  prayer.  Neither  of  these  ought 
to  be  checked  by  considerations  drawn 
from  the  fatal   forces  of   nature  and  the 

1  Jolui  V.  17. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  73 

blind  laws  which  surround  us  as  with  an 
iron  circle.  Pra3'er  is  and  must  remain 
prayer,  and  one  must  take  the  word  with 
strictest  literalness.  On  this  subject  Jesus 
made  use  of  comparisons  of  a  sublime  famil- 
iarity.i  The  child  of  God  asks,  and  no 
explanation  ought  either  to  change  the 
nature  or  attenuate  the  meaning  of  this 
word  "  ask."  To  pray  as  if  one  could  do 
nothing,  to  pray  with  the  assurance  that 
God  can  do  everything  and  that  he  hears 
prayer,  that  he  is  love,  that  he  has  the 
heart  of  a  Father  and  that  we  are  his  chil- 
dren, —  this  is  what  Jesus  taught  ;  this  is 
what  no  consideration  drawn  from  the  phys- 
ical world  ought  to  weaken.  To  this  pre- 
cise and  clear  instruction  he  joined  an 
appeal  to  the  will,  to  the  moral  energy, 
and  moved  men  to  shame  for  all  their 
weaknesses  and  cowardice. 

One  who  was  converted  was  born  anew. 
This  term  excludes  all  explanation  of  con- 
version by  a  mere  normal  development  of 
the  former  life.  Conversion  is  the  true 
moral  supernatural  ;  otherwise  it  would  be 
nothing  more  than  a  fortunate  evolution 
of  the  natural  man. 

1  Luke  xi.  5-13  ;  xviii.  1-8. 


74  JESUS   CHRIST 

In  all  this  early  preaching  Jesus  affirms 
mercy  and  liberty,  for  to  him  sin  is  a  thing 
out  of  the  natural  order.  It  is  not  a  neces- 
sary phase  in  the  development  of  man  ;  it 
is  that  which  ought  not  to  be,  and  some 
day  it  will  be  abolished.  Let  us  observe, 
finally,  that  though  Jesus  was  an  optimist 
he  was  by  no  means  a  fatalist  in  his  opti- 
mism, and  he  did  not  believe  in  inevitable 
progress.  He  made  appeal  to  each  man  ; 
each  individual  should  be  active  and  make 
progress.  Many  people  to-day  believe  in 
a  general  progress  of  humanity,  in  the  evo- 
lution of  the  masses  toward  the  light, 
toward  the  good,  toward  a  future  goal 
which  will  be  attained  as  a  matter  of  neces- 
sity. In  the  same  way  the  Jews  believed 
in  a  kingdom  of  God  which  was  in  a  cer- 
tain way  fatal,  certain,  coming  for  every 
one.  The  error  which  they  committed  and 
which  is  also  our  own,  is  impugned  by  the 
facts.  There  are  nations  which  fall,  and 
there  are  individuals  wlio  fall.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  good  does  not  come  of 
itself.  It  is  not  a  necessary  evolution; 
individual  heroism  makes  it  triumph.  That 
is  what  Jesus  preached  when  he  was  pre- 
paring for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  by 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  75 

the  change  of  men's  hearts  ;  this  was  what, 
above  all,  he  showed  in  his  life,  by  being 
the  perfect  model  of  that  personal  heroism 
which  nothing  checks,  and  which  is  sus- 
tained by  unalterable  faith  and  hope. 


76  JESUS   CHU  I  ST 


CHAPTER    V 

JESUS  AND   MIRACLES 

/^UR  earliest  information  concerning  the 
^■^^  ministry  of  Jesus  is  this  :  "  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  anointed  by  God  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  with  power,  went  about  doing 
good  and  healing  all  them  who  were  under 
the  power  of  Satan,  for  God  was  with  him."  ^ 
This  testimony  is  of  indisputable  authen- 
ticity. If  it  had  not  been  preserved,  if 
the  Gospels  had  not  related  a  single  cure 
performed  by  Jesus,  we  should  still  have  a 
right  to  suppose  it,  for  he  was  a  Rabbi, 
and  in  his  quality  of  Rabbi  he  must  have 
exercised  the  fmictions  of  a  physician. 
Every  Rabbi  was  a  physician  ;  there  were 
no  other  physicians  than  the  Rabbis,  and, 
in  a  general  way,  men  of  consideration  for 
piety,  to  whatever  religious  party  they 
might  belong. 

For  instance,  to  heal  the  sick  was  one 
of  the  principal  functions  of  the  Essenes. 
1  Acts  X.  38.    See  also  Matt.  iv.  23. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  77 

The  Pharisees  also  cast  out  demons  ;  ^  and 
here  again,  while  exercising  the  functions 
of  a  Rabbi,  Jesus  followed  both  Essenian 
and  Pharisaic  customs.  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  the  physician  depended  upon  individ- 
ual inspiration  ;  it  was  not  knowledge  that 
fitted  him  to  heal,  but  piety,  all  of  which 
did  not  prevent  cures  being  from  time  to 
time  obtained  by  remedies  pointed  out  by 
the  Rabbis,  small  as  was  the  advance  in 
medical  science  in  Palestine  in  the  first 
century. 

But  their  cures  were  especially  per- 
formed by  religious  practices,  for  illness 
was  always  considered  either  as  the  pun- 
ishment of  sin  2  or  as  the  act  of  a  demon.^ 
This  is  why  it  was  the  Rabbi,  the  pious  man 
given  to  religious  meditation  and  dreaded 
by  demons,  who  was  capable  of  healing. 
The  Essenes  and  the  Pharisees,  as  we 
have  said,  were  very  much  given  to  the 
expulsion  of  demons,  and  they  often  suc- 
ceeded in  this.  Jesus  admitted  that  the 
Pharisees  cast  them  out.* 

1  Matthew  xii.  27  ;  Luke  xi.  19. 

2  John  V.  14,  ix.  1  f.,  34. 

8  Matt.  ix.  32,  .3.3,  xii.  22  ;  Luke  xiii.  11,  16. 
*  Matt.  xii.  27. 


78  JESUS   CHE  1ST 

All  maladies,  lïot  possessions  only,  were 
attributed  to  moral  causes  ;  no  one  sought 
for  a  physical  cause.  To  be  sure,  certain 
medicinal  plants  were  used,  but  very  spar- 
ingly, for  the  ills  with  which  the  sick  were 
vexed  had  before  all  things  a  Satanic  origin. 
Healing  could  therefore  be  only  a  moral 
act  and  a  moral  achievement  ;  therefore 
the  more  pious  the  physician  the  more  skil- 
ful was  he  to  heal. 

It  is  therefore  easy  to  understand  the 
immense  reputation  which  Jesus  acquired 
in  the  Galilean  villages.  He  passed  for  a 
remarkable  physician,  precisely  because 
he  concerned  himself  with  the  salvation  of 
souls,  and  never  separated  the  two  cures  of 
soul  and  body.  Jesus  was,  above  all,  held 
to  be  a  very  powerful  and  much  dreaded 
exorcist.i 

No  one  who  is  somewhat  conversant 
with  the  history  of  medicine  through  the 
ages  will  be  surprised  at  the  close  relations 
of  medicine  and  religion  in  Palestine  in 
the  first  centmy.  To  tell  the  truth,  these 
relations   had  always   existed    among  all 

1  Mark  v.  12,  15,  17,  33,  36,  vi.  60,  x.  32.  Cf.  Matt, 
viii.  27,  34,  ix.  8,  xiv.  27,  xvii.  0,  7,  xxviii.  6,  10  ;  Luke 
iv.  18,  V.  17,  viii.  25,  35,  37,  ix.  34. 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  79 

peoples.  No  science  has  developed  more 
slowly  than  that  of  medicine. 

In  Greece,  by  a  unique  exception,  its 
progress  was  extremely  remarkaljle.  Al- 
most five  hundred  years  before  Christ 
Hippocrates  created  scientific  medicine, 
founded  upon  expeiience  and  the  obser- 
vation of  facts  ;  but  this  progress,  due  to 
the  genius  of  a  single  man,  remained  alone. 
The  methods  of  Hippocrates,  his  very 
name,  wei'e  unknown  in  Judea.  Outside 
of  Greece  the  physician  continued  to  be 
for  centuries  what  he  was  in  the  orisrin 
of  humanity,  —  a  personage  surrounded  by 
mystery,  placing  himself  in  relations  witii 
Divinity,  calling  to  him  favorable  spirits 
and  driving  bad  spirits  away  ;  and  this  view 
of  things  was  current  in  Palestine  in  the 
time  of  Jesus  Christ.  Why  should  we  be 
surprised  that  disease  was  always  attributed 
to  evil  spirits,  when  in  our  own  day  many 
country  folk  still  believe  in  the  reality  of 
possession?  Are  not  the  sorcerers  of  the 
present  day  nearly  related  to  the  healers 
of  the  olden  time,  and  are  not  the  magi- 
cians of  the  negro  tribes  of  Africa  the  true 
sons  of  the  pliysicians  of  antiquity  ? 

The  surgeon  was  in  an  entirely  different 


80  JESUS   CHRIST 

position.  As  there  is  nothing  mysterious  in 
a  broken  leg,  and  the  cause  of  the  ailment 
is  known,  the  surgeon  was  a  personage 
much  less  esteemed  than  the  physician. 
This  was  long  the  case.  In  France,  even 
to  the  seventeenth  century,  surgeons  were 
classed  with  barbers  and  hairdressers,  and 
in  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  the  surgeon 
might  operate  only  upon  the  order  and 
under  the  oversight  of  the  physician.  The 
latter  was  a  superior  being,  who  might  look 
upon  the  sick  person  but  would  not  stoop 
to  touch  him.  He  had  his  mysterious 
processes,  and  loved  to  give  himself  out 
for  something  supernatural. 

Assuredly,  Jesus  did  not  take  this  atti- 
tude ;  but  in  this  as  in  all  other  things  he 
must  be  considered  in  the  environment  in 
which  he  lived.  In  his  mind  preaching 
and  healing  stood  on  the  same  level.^  He 
was  the  physician  who  gave  health  to  the 
soul,  either  .by  reaching  it  directly  by  his 
word,  or  by  healing  the  body  which  it  in- 
habited, for  disease  came  from  Satan.  It 
was  a  possession  ;  and  whether  Jesus 
preached  or  healed,  his  end  was  the  same 
in  both  cases,  —  it  was  the  soul  which  he 

1  Matt.  ix.  12,  13. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  81 

desired  to  reach,  and  Satan  whom  he  was 
fighting. 

It  has  been  said  that  Jesus  was  fulfilling 
his  Messianic  work  when  he  healed  the 
sick  and  occupied  himself  with  them.  We 
do  not  tliink  so.  In  practising  medicine 
he  was  acting  simply  as  a  Rabbi  and  not  at 
all  as  the  Messiah.  If  he  had  been  acting 
as  the  Messiah,  he  would  have  drawn  atten- 
tion to  his  cures  ;  he  would  have  put  in  a 
strong  light  the  marvellous,  miraculous 
side  of  his  work,  and  would  have  pointed 
to  it  as  a  proof  of  his  Messiahship;  and 
this  he  never  did.  On  this  point  Renan 
has  fallen  into  an  error,  most  surprising  on 
the  part  of  a  man  so  well  versed  in  Pales- 
tinian Judaism  of  the  first  century.  He  says 
that  Jesus  in  his  quality  of  Messiah  must 
have  permitted  miracles  to  be  attributed  to 
him  because  the  Messiah  was  expected  to 
perform  miracles.  When  he  assumed  this 
character,  he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  cer- 
tain features  of  it  of  which  he  disapproved. 
It  was  no  doubt  repugnant  to  him  to  ap- 
pear to  do  miracles  which  he  did  not  do, 
but  he  must  needs  resign  himself  to  it. 
The  error  is  a  singular  one,  for  Jesus  never 
posed  as  a  miracle-worker,  and  Renan  gives 
6 


82  JESUS  CHRIST 

no  proof  that  he  did.  If  Kenan's  assertion 
was  correct,  he  must  have  said  after  per- 
forming a  miracle,  "  Observe  this  miracu- 
lous deed  :  it  is  the  proof  that  I  am  the 
Messiah."  But  Jesus  simply  performed 
miracles  as  a  Rabbi  ;  he  healed  the  sick 
because  he  was  moved  with  compassion 
toward  them,  and  the  irrefragable  proof  of 
Renan's  error  is  that  Jesus  forbade  those 
whom  he  healed  to  divulge  their  miracu- 
lous cure.  He  did  not,  then,  count  upon 
the  effect  produced  by  the  prodigy  which 
he  had  just  accomplished  to  bring  about 
his  acceptance  as  Messiah.  Once,  again, 
every  Rabbi  was  a  physician,  and  the  com- 
passion of  Jesus,  his  immense  compassion 
for  men,  moved  him  to  assuage  their  moral 
and  physical  ills.  This  ls  the  whole  secret 
of  his  cures. 

Jesus,  then,  concealed  his  miracles  ;  so 
far  as  Messianic  works  were  concerned,  he 
left  them  eiitirely  out  of  the  question,  do- 
ing them  in  secret  and  forbidding  that  they 
should  be  spoken  of.^  One  day,  in  spite  of 
liimself,  when  a  demon  recognized  him,  he 
forbade  him  to  speak  of  his  Messiahship, 

1  Matt.  viii.  4,  ix.  30,  31,  xii.  16  f.  ;  Mark  i.  44,  vii. 
24  f.,  viii.  26. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  83 

for  this  demon  believed  in  it  and  knew  it 
to  be  true,  because  a  demon,  whose  spirit  is 
of  higher  order  than  the  spirit  of  man, 
knows,  divines,  understands  things  that  re- 
main unknown  by  man.^ 

More  than  this,  when  Jesus  healed  a 
sick  person  he  made  a  point  of  showing 
that  the  moral  healing  was  much  more  im- 
portant in  his  eyes  than  physical  healing. 
He  made  a  point  of  saying  to  the  sick  per- 
son, "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee."  Pardon 
is  the  true  healing  ;  the  healing  of  the  body 
is  nothing  other  than  its  symbol. 

This  fact  is  manifested  witli  ample  evi- 
dence in  the  healing  of  demoniacs.  There 
especially  the  return  to  health  appeared 
clearly  to  be  a  victory  over  sin,  —  that  is 
to  say,  over  the  world  of  darkness  and  the 
evil  spirits  who  reign  there. 

Belief  in  demons  was  very  general  in 
antiquity.  The  Greeks  and  liomans,  like 
the  Jews,  were  convinced  that  evil  spirits 
took  possession  of  the  bodies  of  certain 
persons.  We  have  said  that  all  maladies 
were  by  the  Jews  attributed  to  demons,  but 
there  were  certain  diseases  more  evidently 
their  work,  especially  those  where  the 
1  Mark  i.  24,  25,  34,  iii.  12  ;  Luke  iv.  41. 


84  JESUS    CHRIST 

patient  appears  to  belong  no  longer  to 
himself  (hysterical  disturbances,  nervous 
maladies,  madness),  or  those  of  which  the 
cause  cannot  be  seen  (mutism,  deafness). 
These  affections  were  believed  to  be  unde- 
niable cases  of  possession.  Others,  leprosy 
for  instance,  were  less  evidently  maladies 
of  Satanic  origin  ;  nevertheless,  like  the 
others,  they  came  from  the  world  of  dark- 
ness. 

Let  us  now  study  in  detail  the  methods 
of  healing  employed  by  Jesus.  The  first 
fact  is  that  Jesus  acts  entirely  as  a  physi- 
cian. He  often  puts  questions  like  a  doc- 
tor who  is  concerned  to  inform  himself  as 
to  the  gravity  of  a  case.  "  How  long  is  it 
since  this  came  unto  him  ?  "  ^  He  asks  a 
blind  man  whose  cure  he  has  begun  if  he 
sees  aught.2  It  is  the  physician  informing 
himself  and  wishing  to  be  informed.  On 
that  day  he  healed  slowly  and  by  several 
stages.  He.  commanded  that  food  should 
be  given  the  daughter  of  Jairus  ;  ^  it  was 
as  a  medical  prescription.  He  made  clay 
with  spittle.*  To  complete  the  cure  begun, 
he  commanded  a  sick  man  to  wash  in  a 

1  Mark  ix.  21.  =^  Mark  viii.  23;  cf.  v.  9. 

*  Mark  v.  43.  *  John  ix.  6  ;  Mark  viii.  23. 


DURING  Ills  MINISTRY  85 

certain  pool  which  he  indicated.^  Once, 
to  heal  a  deaf  mute  he  put  his  fingers  into 
his  ears,  touched  his  tongue  with  saliva, 
breathed  a  deep  sigh,  and  said  the  words, 
"  Be  opened  !  "  ^  Here  the  healing  was 
slow,  difficult,  and  one  may  almost  doubt 
whether  in  the  end  it  was  actually  effected. 
From  time  to  time  these  difficult  healings 
occur.  There  was  a  particularly  ill-disposed 
and  tenacious  sort  of  demon  who  would 
consent  to  go  out  only  after  the  exorcist 
had  fasted  and  prayed.^  Therefore  Jesus, 
who  most  generally  waited  to  be  asked 
before  performing  a  miracle,'*  at  times  per- 
formed a  cui-e  only  as  the  result  of  effort, 
a  veritable  moral  effort.  Notwithstandinsf 
his  great  compassion,  he  even  went  so  far 
as  to  shun  the  sick  who  implored  and  sup- 
plicated his  aid,  in  order  to  retire  to  a  soli- 
tude to  pray. 

In  fact,  a  cure  was  not  certain.  It  de- 
pended upon  one  essential  condition,  that 
the  sick  person  should  have  faith,  and  even 

1  John  ix.  6. 

2  Mark  vii.  33  f . 

3  Matt.  xvii.  21  ;  Mark  ix.  29.  It  is  possible  that 
the  mention  of  the  fact  is  not  authentic. 

*  Matt.  xii.  39,  xvi.  4,  xvii.  16;  Mark  viii.  22  f.,  ix. 
18;  Luke  ix.  11. 


86  JESUS  CHRIST 

that  the  bystanders  should  have  it  too.^ 
When  there  was  faith  neither  in  the  per- 
son of  the  sick  nor  of  those  who  were 
with  him,  Jesus  did  not  perform  a  cure; 
he  could  not  succeed.^  This  was  not 
merely  refusal  on  his  part,  the  refusal 
to  perform  an  act  Avhich  he  might  have 
performed  if  he  had  so  willed  ;  no,  it  was 
an  impossibility.  And  the  converse  is  true  : 
when  the  multitude  were  full  of  enthu- 
siasm and  faith,  Jesus  performed  many 
cures,  even  at  a  distance  and  without  the 
sick  person  being  present. 

The  presence  of  Jesus  sufficed  ;  it  kept 
up  a  beneficent  moral  excitement,  and  pro- 
voked a  confidence  which  put  the  sick  per- 
son into  communication  with  him  by  the 
intermediary  of  the  multitude.  Cases  of 
sugfofestion  which  much  resemble  those  are 
cited  in  our  own  day.  The  sick  person's 
faith  or  that  of  the  crowd  is  what  performs 
the  miracle.,  Jesus  was  so  much  convinced 
of  tliis  tliat  he  never  said,  "  I  have  healed 
thee,"  but  "  Thy  faith  hath  healed  thee." 
So,  when  he  used  clay  to  anoint  the  eyes 

^  "Seeing  their  faith."  Matt.  i-x.  2;  Mark  ii.  6; 
Luke  V.  20. 

-  I\Iark  vi.  5,  G;  Matt.  xiii.  58. 


DURING  II I S  MINISTRY  87 

of  a  blind  man,i  when  it  was  enough  for 
a  woman  to  touch  his  garment  and  be 
healed,^  he  attached  no  superstitious  idea 
to  these  acts.  He  said  to  that  woman,  as 
to  the  others,  "  Thy  faith  hath  saved  thee," 
and  not  "  Thy  contact  with  my  garment 
saved  thee." 

How  was  the  healing  produced  ?  Judg- 
ing by  the  example  just  cited,  it  might  be 
the  case  that  it  was  produced  by  contact 
with  tlie  garment  of  Jesus,  even  without 
his  knowledge.^  But  in  general  the  sick 
person  was  healed  as  a  consequence  of 
words  pronounced  by  Jesus  in  a  tone  of 
command.*  Doubtless  there  resulted  from 
the  tone  of  his  words  a  moral  commotion 
which  made  easy  the  return  to  health  of 
him  who  had  faith. 

As  for  Jesus  himself,  it  was  by  prayer 
that  he  healed.  He  had  a  profound  and 
glowing  faith  that  his  prayer  would  be 
answered.  There  is  nothing  concerning 
which  Jesus  spoke  with  more  unalterable 
conviction  than  of  the  hearing  of  prayer. 
He  had  a  personal,  full,  absolute  certainty 

1  John  ix.  0  ;  Mark  viii.  2?,.         2  Mark  v.  27,  28. 
3  Markiii.  10;  v.  30;  vi.  5G. 
*  Mark  i.  25,  and  pussim. 


88  JESUS  CHRIST 

that  one  can  do  all  things  by  prayer  ;  by  it 
one  acts  upon  God,  and  tlii-ougii  him  upon 
nature  itself.^ 

Tliis  is  why  Jesus  certainly  performed 
true  miracles,  and  did  it  often;  for  God 
certainly  gave  him  the  answer  to  his 
prayers,  and  he  often  had  experience  of  a 
direct  response  to  his  supplications  by  the 
Father.  When  he  said,  "  Ask  and  ye  shall 
receive,"  ^  he  drew  this  observation  from 
the  depths  of  his  personal  experience.  He 
had  asked  and  he  had  received;  he  had 
knocked  at  the  Father's  door,  and  the 
Father  had  opened  to  him  the  treasures 
of  his  compassion,  and  his  answers  to 
prayer. 

The  incontestable  authenticity  of  the 
greater  number  of  the  sayings  uttered  by 
Jesus  when  healing  tliis  or  that  sick  per- 
son, on  the  occasion  of  this  or  that  miracle, 
is  the  irrefutable  proof  of  the  authenticity 
of  the  miracle  itself.  In  our  day,  in  cer- 
tain reliofious  establishments  in  Switzer- 
land,  for  example,  Christians  of  ardent 
faith  have  obtained  cures  by  prayer,  cures 
which    have    been    scientifically    demon- 

1  Matt,  xviii.  19,  xxi.  21,  22  ;  Mark  xi.  23,  24. 
•  Matt.  vii.  7  ff.  and  parallel  passages. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  89 

strated  ;  and  whoever  believes  in  the  power 
of  God  and  the  power  of  prayer  believes 
that  health  may  be  given  back  by  God  to 
a  sick  person  who  asks  it  or  for  whom 
others  intercede.  So  much  the  more  must 
Jesus  have  obtained  such  cures. 

We  have  spoken  up  to  this  time  only  of 
the  cures  performed  by  Jesus,  but  what  we 
have  said  of  these  may  be  applied  to  all  the 
miracles  attributed  in  the  Gospels  to  Christ. 
We  have  not  the  slightest  a  j^riori  objec- 
tion to  their  authenticity.  But  each  one 
must  be  studied  separately,  by  itself,  and 
in  the  light  of  a  sound  criticism  ;  and 
criticism  should  rest  upon  this  indispu- 
table principle,  this  final  affirmation  of 
modern  science,  —  the  laws  of  nature  are 
inviolable. 

In  our  first  volume  we  explained  our 
views  of  the  state  of  men's  minds  in  Pales- 
tine in  the  first  century;  of  the  facility 
with  which  every  one  saw  miracles  every- 
where, and  the  difference  there  is  in  tliis 
matter  between  a  man  of  that  period  and  a 
man  of  our  own,  who,  on  the  other  hand, 
sees  none  anywhere.  This  remark  must 
be  borne  in  mind  ;  and  since  it  has  been 
averred  that  the  laws  of  nature  are  invio- 


90  JESUS  CHRIST 

lable,  it  follows  that  the  fact  called  a 
miracle,  if  it  be  authentic,  if  it  really 
took  place,  can  only  be  a  fact  which  tem- 
porarily lies  outside  of  the  known  forces 
of  nature. 

As  Jesus  never  drew  attention  to  the 
marvellous  or  inexplicable  elements  in  the 
miracles  he  performed,  it  follows  —  and 
this  statement  is  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance—  that  he  never  desired  that  men 
should  see  anything  magical  even  in 
his  most  extraordinary  acts.  One  of  the 
victories  of  the  Temptation  consisted  pre- 
cisely in  repudiating  every  act  which  by 
an  appearance  of  prodigy  might  be  likely 
to  dazzle  and  amaze  the  multitude.  All 
that  seemed  like  sorcery  or  magic,  every- 
thing which  might  resemble  an  act  of  dex- 
terity designed  to  arouse  astonishment, 
was  entirely  outside  of  his  method,  and 
never  had  anytliing  to  do  with  the  gospel 
as  he  conceived  and  preached  it.  Miracle 
as  miracle  is  foreign  to  the  Christianity  of 
Jesus. 

This  is  all  the  more  remarkable  because 
Jesus'  disciples  and  all  his  contemporaries, 
without  exception,  looked  upon  miracles 
from  an    entirely  different  point  of  view. 


DURING   ni  S  MINISTRY  91 

They  called  them  signs  ;  and  to  their  minds 
a  divine  messenger,  and  especially  the 
Messiah,  could  only  accredit  himself  by 
performing  miracles  and  also  by  fulfilling 
prophecy.  These  two  proofs  were  abso- 
lutely required.  Given  that  the  miracles 
were  thoroughly  authentic  and  the  fulfil- 
ment of  prophecy  perfectly  evident,  all 
doubt  was  dispelled.  The  disciples,  there- 
fore, could  only  receive  a  miracle-working 
Messiah.  This  is  easily  to  be  seen  from 
many  passages  in  the  Gospels,  and  in  con- 
sequence the  greatness  of  Jesus'  views  and 
the  originality  of  his  ideas  on  this  point  are 
all  the  more  easy  to  discern,  and  all  the 
more  certainly  authentic. 

It  is  so  true  that  miracles  made  no  part 
of  his  mission  that  when  he  cast  out  a 
demon  he  forbade  the  possessed  man  with 
threats  (what  threats  ?  —  perhaps  of  a  return 
of  his  malady)  to  make  known  his  cure  ; 
and  twice  he  refused  to  perform  a  miracle, 
because  it  would  be  perfectly  evident  that 
he  was  its  author,  being  performed  before 
the  eyes  of  the  Pharisees,  the  learned  men 
of  the  time.^  On  this  occasion  he  declared 
that  the  true  sign  of  his  mission  was  his 

1  Matt.  xii.  38  ff.,  xvi.  1  ff.  ;  Mark  viii.  11. 


92  JESUS   CHRIST 

preaching,  as  powerful  as  that  of  Jonas, 
and  his  wisdom,  as  great  as  that  of  Solo- 
mon. In  the  parable  of  the  wicked  rich 
man,  when  the  latter,  being  in  torment, 
thought  of  his  five  brothers,  and  asked 
Abraham  to  send  Lazarus  to  warn  them 
that  they  should  not  also  come  into  torment, 
Abraham  replied:  "They  have  Moses 
and  the  prophets  ;  let  them  hear  them. 
If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets, 
neither  will  they  be  persuaded  if  one  rise 
from  the  dead."  ^  Therefore  the  miracle  of 
miracles,  the  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
proves  less,  has  less  of  evidential  value, 
than  the  preaching  of  Moses  and  of  the 
prophets  ;  and  it  follows  from  this  passage 
that,  in  the  mind  of  Jesus,  the  truth  of  his 
preaching,  the  authenticity  of  his  mission, 
his  gospel,  in  short,  are  not  proved  by  one 
of  his  miracles,  not  even  by  his  own  resur- 
rection from  the  dead.^ 

1  Luke  xvi.  31. 

2  One  passage  alone  appears  to  oppose  this  con- 
stant attitude  of  Jesus  ;  namely,  the  reply  to  the 
messengers  of  John  the  Baptist  :  "  Go  your  way  and 
tell  John  the  things  wiiich  ye  do  hear  and  see:  the 
blind  receive  their  sight  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers 
are  cleansed  and  the  deaf  hear,  and  the  dead  are 
raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  good  tidings  preached  to 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  93 

When  Jesus  forbade  those  whom  he 
healed  to  speak  of  his  miracles,  it  was  as- 
suredly not  that  we  should  pass  them  over 
in  silence  to-day.  This  chapter  would  not 
have  been  written  if  we  had  thus  understood 
his  words  on  the  subject.  Nevertheless 
in  that  prohibition  he  gave  us  an  impor- 
tant teaching,  a  teaching  entirely  misun- 
derstood by  believers  who  persist  in  find- 
ing an  apologetic  value  in  miracles.    For  if 

them"  (Matt.  xi.  5;  Luke  vii.  22).  But  here  Jesus 
does  not  appeal  to  his  miracles  because  they  are 
prodigies,  to  draw  from  them  the  conclusion  that 
John  ought  to  believe  in  him  ;  he  appeals  to  them  be- 
cause they  are  acts  of  compassion,  and  victories 
achieved  over  Satan.  Jesus  arranges  his  remarkable 
deeds  in  gradation,  and  after  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead  he  mentions  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the 
poor,  a  purely  moral  act,  which  appears  to  him  even 
more  surprising  than  the  raising  of  the  dead.  In  fact, 
each  time  that  he  performs  his  work,  whether  to 
heal  a  sick  person  or  to  preach  the  gospel,  but  es- 
pecially in  preaching  the  gospel,  and  preaching  it  to 
the  poor,  he  is  laboring  to  overturn  Satan's  throne  ; 
and  this  is  the  purpose  of  his  life.  Even  in  this  pas- 
sage, which,  it  is  to  be  remarked,  is  unique,  Jesus  con- 
siders his  miracles  as  religious  acts,  victories  of  God 
over  Satan,  of  light  over  darkness.  Every  converted 
soul,  and  every  sick  person  healed,  push  back  the 
limits  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness,  one  as  much  as 
the  other,  or,  rather,  the  converted  soul  more  than 
the  other. 


94  JESUS   CHRIST 

there  is  one  fact  to  be  deduced  with  over- 
whelming evidence  from  the  attitude  of 
the  Christ,  it  is  that  they  have  none,  and 
that  it  serves  nothing  at  all  to  demonstrate 
their  authenticity.  Such  a  demonstration 
has  merely  a  historic  interest,  like  the 
demonstration  of  the  existence  of  Homer, 
and  can  in  no  case  have  any  religious  value 
whatsoever.  If  Jesus  had  not  performed 
a  single  miracle  (I  mean  a  single  physical 
miracle),  that  could  have  subtracted  ab- 
solutely nothing  from  the  value  of  his 
person,  and  the  reality  of  the  moral  super- 
naturalness  which  radiates  from  his  whole 
being.  "  Say  nothing  to  any  one  !  "  Noth- 
ing is  indifferent  that  Jesus  says  ;  the  least 
of  his  words  is  of  capital  importance,  and 
it  may  be  affirmed  that  Christians  have  not 
yet  understood  the  significance  of  this 
command. 

"  A  historic  event,  whether  extraordinary 
or  not,"  wvites  M.  Lachelier,^  "cannot  be 
an  object  of  faith,  precisely  because  it  is 
historic  and  by  that  very  fact  an  object  of 
knowledge.  The  same  is  the  case  with 
regard  to  the  conclusions  which  may  be 
drawn  from  a  miracle  with  regard  to  the 
1  From  an  unpublished  letter  to  the  author. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  95 

character  and  power  of  him  who  performed 
it.  Such  conclusions,  supposing  them  to 
be  legitimate,  will  always  belong  in  the 
order  of  knowledge,  and  will  never  consti- 
tute a  moral  and  religious  faithP 


96  JESUS   CHRIST 


CHAPTER  VI 

EARLIEST    PREACHING    OF  JESUS   ON    THE 
KINGDOM   OF  GOD 

npHE  two  words  Hammalkuth  hash- 
shamayim  (the  kingdom  of  heaven) 
are  certainly  those  which  Jesus  most  often 
uttered  ;  he  preferred  this  expression  to 
the  "kingdom  of  God."  In  oui'  former 
volume  we  explained  that  the  two  expres- 
sions are  synonymous.  Jesus  employed 
the  former;  the  apostles,  doubtless  in 
order  to  be  better  understood  by  Gentiles, 
made  use  of  the  second.  Still,  though  the 
two  expressions  are  synonymous,  they  pre- 
sent a  shade  of  difference;  and  we  may 
compare  with  the  marked  preference  of 
Jesus  for  the  form  "  kingdom  of  heaven  " 
(les  cicux)^  his  use  of  the  expression  of  which 
he  was  equally  fond,  "the  Father  who  is 
in  heaven"  (les  deux).  He  speaks  also  of 
rewards  "in  heaven"  {les  deux).  Now, 
the    Rabbis    of    that    time    held    to    the 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  97 

existence  of  several  heavens,  —  at  least 
seven,  —  one  above  the  other,  overhead 
in  the  blue  expanse  which  is  spread  abroad 
beyond  the  clouds. ^  There  was  to  be 
found  the  new  earth,  "  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem," the  kingdom  to  come  ;  and  the 
doctors,  founding  their  view  upon  Daniel  ^ 
and  Enoch,^  believed  that  this  king- 
dom, called  "  of  the  heavens  "  because 
it  was  in  the  heavens,*  would  descend  from 
it,  all  complete,  all  set  in  order  in  some 
sort,  to  be  established  upon  the  earth.  The 
Son  of  Man  appearing  in  the  clouds 
would  found  it,  with  the  help  of  the 
anofels.^  Then  the  elect  would  "  see  " 
and  "enter"  it.^  These  expressions  were 
taken  in  their  most  literal  sense  ;  and 
when  men  said  the  kingdom  is  at  hand, 
or  has  come,"  they  meant  it  is  about  to 
descend,  it  will  soon  be  established. 

Nothing  indicates  that  Jesus  understood 
by  "  kingdom  of  heaven  "  anything  different 
from  what  his  contemporaries  understood  ; 

1  Bereshith  Rabba.  Bamidebar  Rabba.  Syb.  Orac. 
3,  83  ;  Test.  Patriarch,  12  (cf.  2  Cor.  xii.  2  ;  Eph.  iv.  10; 
Heb.  iv.  14). 

2  Dan.  vii.  ff.  ^  Book  of  Enoch, /jassm. 
*  See  Eev.  xxi.  10.          6  Matt.  xvi.  27. 

«  John  iii.  3,  5.  ^  Matt.  iv.  17. 

7 


98  JESUS   CHRIST 

nothing  authorizes  us  to  find  him  using 
on  this  subject  any  different  language 
from  that  of  the  doctors  of  his  people. 

If  Jesus  had  held  any  other  views  upon 
this  important  doctrine  than  those  of  his 
contemporaries,  he  would  have  said  so  ; 
he  would  have  carefully  distinguished 
his  way  of  looking  at  it  from  that  of  his 
people.  Especially  when  speaking  to  his 
apostles,  deprecating  any  misunderstanding 
on  their  part,  clearly  perceiving  how  natural 
such  a  misunderstanding  would  be,  he 
would  have  taken  care  to  dissipate  it, 
would  have  warned,  explained,  put  them 
on  their  guard.  But  he  did  nothing  of  the 
kind.  Not  only  did  he  never  take  these 
precautions  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  made 
use  of  all  the  expressions  of  his  contem- 
poraries, used  them  just  as  they  used 
them,  repeated  them  just  as  they  did  and 
in  the  sense  which  everybody  gave  them. 
To  say  that  Jesus  was  speaking  with 
another  meaning,  spiritualizing,  allegoriz- 
ing, symbolizing,  is  wholly  arbitrary.  The 
hearers  of  Jesus  could  have  understood 
another  mode  of  speech  concerning  the 
kingdom  to  come  only  with  the  clearest 
and  most  precise  explanations,  distinguish- 


DURING  BIS  MINISTRY  99 

ing  the  two  views.  But  the  Gospels  show 
not  the  slightest  trace  of  explanations  of 
this  kind. 

When  Jesus  spoke  of  the  kingdom,  he 
always  used  the  future  tense.  All  the 
rewards  promised  in  the  beatitudes  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  were  in  the  future. 
For  him,  as  for  all  his  contemporaries,  the 
kingdom  was  to  come.  It  was  alwaj^s  in 
the  future  in  his  teachings  ;  and  never, 
not  even  on  the  eve  of  his  death,  did  he 
speak  of  the  kingdom  as  present  and 
already  founded.^ 

Jesus  also  taught  his  disciples  to  say, 
"  Thy  kingdom  come  !  "  —  the  continual 
prayer  of  the  Jews  ever  since  the  Exile, 
and  certainly  his  own,  as  it  had  been  in 
his  childhood  and  his  youth.  If  he  added, 
"  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  in  heaven," 
it  was  because  he  mentally  added  "that 

1  If  we  read  is  instead  of  will  be  in  the  following 
passages,  Matt.  v.  3,  10,  xi.  11;  Luke  vii.  28,  ix.  62 
[The  English  version  is  in  the  present.  —  Transi],  the 
reference  is  evidently  to  a  possession  so  certain  that  it 
is  anticipated  as  present.  In  the  same  way  Jesus  says 
elsewhere,  "  He  that  helieveth  in  me  hath  eternal  life." 
For  that  matter,  Jesus  spoke  without  the  verb,  in 
Araniasan,  Lo  anim  hummalkuth  hash-shamayim !  ("To 
the  poor  in  spirit  the  kingdom  of  heaven  !  ") 


100  JESUS   CHRIST 

it  may  be  possible  for  the  kingdom  which 
is  in  heaven  to  appear  upon  the  earth." 

Jesus,  then,  announced  the  kingdom  as 
to  come.  The  earliest  passages  in  the 
Gospels  leave  no  doubt  on  this  subject. 
When  he  cried,  "Seek  ye  first  the  king- 
dom !  "  ^  that  meant  "  Seek  by  prayers, 
ask  God,  that  the  kingdom  may  come." 
The  close  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is 
explicit  :  "  He  who  doeth  the  will  of  God 
shall  enter  into  the  kingdom." 

Such,  then,  was  his  mission  as  Messiah, 
—  to  say,  "  The  kingdom  is  at  hand."  In 
this  Jesus  made  no  innovation.  All  Jews 
held  that  the  Messiah's  first  mission  would, 
in  fact,  be  to  announce  the  near  approach 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  At  a  later  day, 
when  Jesus  was  putting  his  disciples  on 
their  guard  against  the  false  Messiahs  who 
were  to  come,  he  told  them  that  in  order 
to  induce  belief  in  their  Messiahship  they 
would  all  say,  "  I  am  he,  and  the  time  is  at 
hand  !  "  ^  This  is  precisely  what  he  was 
himself  doing. 

Having  worked  out  his  first  thought  of 
the  kingdom,  he  formulated  it  in  several 
parables,  as  was  his  custom. 

1  Luke  xii.  31.  -  ^  Luke  xxi.  8. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  101 

In  these  allegories  ^  he  told  how  the 
kingdom  was  being  prepared  for.  He 
compared  himself  to  a  sower.  He  was 
sowing  the  seed.  Those  who  lieard  and 
bore  fruit  would  enter  into  the  kingdom, 
whose  coming  was  symbolized  by  the  fu- 
ture harvest.  The  story  of  the  mustard 
seed  represented  the  state  of  things  which 
would  make  ready  for  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom.  The  number  of  those  who  were 
to  have  a  part  in  the  kingdom  was  at 
present  small,  like  a  mustard  seed,  but  it 
would  keep  on  growing  and  would  be  im- 
mense when  the  kingdom  appeared.  The 
same  is  the  case  in  the  action  of  leaven 
upon  dough  ;  the  word  which  prepares  for 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom  has  a  hidden 
power  wliich  will  so  transform  the  hearts 
of  the  disciples  as  to  make  them  capable  of 
entering  the  coming  kingdom.  One  must 
sacrifice  everything  in  order  to  enter  the 
kingdom,  like  the  man  who  finds  a  treas- 
ure hidden  in  a  field  ;  and  we  must  seek 
for  the  kingdom,  that  is,  prepare  for  it,  as 
one  seeks  for  a  pearl  of  great  price.  For 
the  time  being  Jesus  and  his  disciples 
were  casting  the  net,  and  gathering  into 
1  Matt.  xiii.  1  ff. 


102  JESUS   CHRIST 

it  all  sorts  of  men;  but  only  they  would 
enter  the  kingdom  who  should  be  judged 
worthy  at  the  sorting  of  the  last  Judgment. 
The  same  thought  is  expressed  in  the  para- 
ble of  the  wheat  and  the  tares  ;  the  king- 
dom cannot  be  other  than  futui-e,  since 
its  coming  is  represented  by  the  harvest, 
which  will  be  accompanied  by  the  great 
separation  made  by  the  angels.^ 

Everything  which  concerned  the  king- 
dom was  mysterious,  that  is,  secret  and 
hidden.^     At  a  future  time  these  hidden 

^  The  kingdom  is,  then,  future,  and  the  parables  of 
Matthew  xiii.  do  not  in  the  least  signify  that  Jesus 
was  at  that  very  time  founding  it  by  his  preaching. 
He  was  preparing  for  its  coming,  —  a  very  different 
thing.  It  is  true  that  at  a  later  day  he  said  to  the 
Pharisees,  "  The  kingdom  of  God  is  in  the  midst  of 
you,"  or  "  within  you  "  (Luke  xvii.  21),  and  again,  "  It  is 
come  upon  you"  (Luke  xi.  21)  ;  but  he  certainly  did 
not  desire  by  such  words  to  indicate  anything  other 
than  possession  of  the  kingdom  by  anticipation, — 
a  presence  which  is  virtual  because  it  is  imminent. 
No  other  interpretation  of  these  passages  is  possible. 
To  explain  theiti  by  saying  that  in  them  Jesus  aflBrmed 
that  the  kingdom  was  founded  and  was  already  pres- 
ent in  the  world,  would  be  to  put  him  in  contradiction 
with  the  entire  teaching  of  his  ministry,  by  virtue  of 
two  isolated  verses.  (See  a  complete  exposition  of 
these  passages  in  chapter  ix.,  "  Opposition  to  Jesus," 
page  143). 

2  Matt.  xiii.  11  f. 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  103 

things  would  become  visible.  When  the 
kingdom  should  appear,  every  one  would 
know  all  these  mysteries.^  When  the 
kingdom  should  appear,  Jesus  would  put 
the  finishing  touch  to  his  work,  merging 
it  in  that  which  he  was  now  doing,  for 
both  consist  in  bringing  about  the  reign 
of  God.  Jesus  was  the  great  Reformer. 
The  revolution  which  he  was  announc- 
ing would  be  radical.  He  was  looking  for 
nothing  less  than  a  universal  restoration.^ 

For  the  time  being  he  was  performing  a 
work  of  preparation  ;  there  were,  in  fact, 
aptitudes  to  acquire  before  men  could  be 
ready  to  enter  the  kingdom,  aptitudes 
purely  moral.  He  must  therefore  prepare 
for  it  by  a  wholly  spiritual  and  subjective 
work,  —  by  the  changing  of  hearts. 

He  repudiated  anything  like  political 
preparation  ;  so  early  as  the  days  of  temp- 
tation he  had  put  aside  all  idea  of  a  Mes- 
siahship  of  the  strong  hand,  a  triumph  by 
force.  The  Messianic  hopes  of  the  Phari- 
sees were,  above  all  things,  political.  If  at 
one  moment  of  his  life  Jesus  was  attracted 
by  certain  Pharisaic  ideas,  he  never  was 

1  Matt.  xiii.  12. 

2  Acts  iii.  21  ;  Matt.  xix.  28. 


104  JESUS  CHRIST 

by  this  one  ;  he  never  seems  to  have  been 
interested  in  politics,  and  never  thought  of 
such  a  thing  as  revolt.  Popular  seditions 
appeared  to  him  criminal  and  useless; 
the  adventure  of  Judas  the  Gaulonite  had 
made  that  clear.  He  paid  tribute  to  the 
Romans,  and  from  the  very  first  he  prac- 
tised his  celebrated  maxim,  "  Render  unto 
Csesar  the  things  that  are  Cœsar's,  and  to 
God  the  things  that  are  God's."  In  this 
matter,  indeed,  he  was  simply  following 
the  example  of  the  Essenes,  who  were 
most  careful  not  to  meddle  with  politics. 

But  let  us  beware  of  thinking  that  Jesus, 
taking  no  part  in  politics  and  desiring  to 
take  no  such  part,  had  for  that  reason  re- 
nounced his  patriotic  faith  and  his  Mes- 
sianic hopes.  To  see  a  visible  and  national 
kingdom  founded  in  his  lifetime,  to  see 
the  Jews  choosing  him  for  Messiah  and 
Master  and  proclaiming  him  king,  —  such 
was,  till  the  last,  the  great  hope  of  his  life. 
No  doubt  he  hid  himself  when  the  multi- 
tude wished  to  make  him  king  ;  ^  but  solely 
because  the  hour  had  not  yet  come,  and 
the  people  were  under  a  misapprehension 
as  to  the  true  nature  of  his  Messiahship, 

1  John  vi.  5. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  105 

believing  that  he  intended  to  appeal  to 
arms  and  make  use  of  violence.  Never, 
even  in  his  hour  of  temptation,  did  he 
repudiate  the  national  Messianic  kingdom. 
We  shall  see  him  on  Palm  Sunday  yield- 
ing without  resistance  to  the  ovations  of 
the  multitude,  and  accepting  the  homage 
paid  to  the  Messiah-king.  Jesus  had  always 
the  most  ardent  and  profound  sympathy 
with  the  national  hopes  of  liis  people. 

We  must,  above  all  things,  not  forget 
that  Jesus  constructed  no  theories,  and 
never  spoke  by  virtue  of  a  clearly  defined 
system,  a  logical  construction.  He  did  not 
reason  about  the  kingdom,  saying,  "  It 
shall  be  this  and  shall  not  be  that.  I 
reject  this  detail  which  my  people  admit. 
I  accept  that  one  ;  I  bring  to  it  this  new 
idea,  this  unknown  solution."  To  under- 
stand what  Jesus  said  and  thought  about 
the  kingdom,  we  must  put  ourselves  in 
thought  in  the  first  century,  breathe  the 
atmosphere  of  the  time,  saturate  our  minds 
with  the  Jewish  notions  of  the  period,  and 
then  we  shall  perceive  that  Jesus  by  no 
means  came  to  found  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  promulgate  its  laws,  but  that  he  came 
to  announce  its  coming  and  hasten  it,  by 


106  JESITS   CHRIST 

detaching  men's  souls  from  this  world  and 
preparing  them  for  the  world  to  come. 
This  is  the  key  to  his  ministry  in  Galilee. 

Concern  for  the  future,  and  for  what  the 
futui'e  would  be,  never  left  him  for  an 
instant.  Sometimes  he  would  speak  as  if 
the  world  were  on  the  eve  of  a  catastrophe  ; 
again  he  spoke  as  a  reformer  who  had 
abundant  time  before  him,  who  had  come 
to  open  new  paths  and  change  the  hearts 
of  men.  The  two  attitudes  appear  to  be 
contradictory,  but  they  are  not  in  the  least 
so  ;  for  on  the  one  hand  Jesus  never  an- 
nounced a  progressive  development  of  the 
kingdom,  but  spoke  of  a  sudden  and  final 
catastroiDhe  for  which  men  should  prepare  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  catastrophe 
though  not  far  distant  was  not  imminent. 
Every  one  had  a  certain  time  before  him, 
short  no  doubt,  but  still  a  certain  time  for 
preparation.  In  other  words,  the  coming 
of  the  kingdom  was  near,  but  not  immedi- 
ate (the  kingdom  "  is  at  hand  "  )  ;  and 
Jesus  himself  was  preparing  for  it  by 
founding  a  society  of  disciples  which  was 
to  abide,  which  had  before  it,  not  sev- 
eral centuries,  —  Jesus  never  spoke  of  a 
future  of  several  centuries,  —  but  at  least 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  107 

a  few  years,  perhaps  many  ;  he  did  not 
know  exactly  how  many.^  He  spoke  of 
the  leaven,  whose  action  is  slow;  of  the 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  takes  a  cer- 
tain time  to  grow.  He  did  not  look  for  a 
rapid  success  ;  but  he  was  still  young,  there 
was  time  ;  little  by  little  the  seed  would 
grow.  He  had  placed  himself  in  the 
Father's  hands,  he  was  awaiting  his  hour  ; 
he  had  no  preconceived  views  and  no  self- 
deceptions. 

This  is  how  Jesus,  while  considering 
the  final  catastrophe  as  near  at  hand,  still 
came  as  a  law-giver  and  reformer.  His 
moral  teaching  plainly  shows  that  the 
proximity  of  the  Judgment  was  not  im- 
mediate ;  but  it  was  near,  for  his  own  pre- 
occupation in  his  moral  teachings  was  to 
make  men  better  with  intent  to  prepare 
them  to  enter  the  kingdom. 

Jesus  then  saw  in  the  kingdom  neither 
a  spiritual  deliverance  nor  the  reign  of  the 
poor  and  lowly.  To  say  so  is  to  confound 
the  kingdom  itself  with  the  state  of  mind 
which  would  prepare  for  it. 

In  fact,  to  prepare  oneself  for  it,  one 

1  "None  knoweth  the  day  nor  the  hour,  not  even 
the  Son  "(Mark  xiii.  32). 


108  JESUS   CHRIST 

must  become  poor  and  lowly,  as  we  shall 
show  in  the  next  chapter  ;  and  as  to  the 
kingdom  it  was  to  be  very  nearly  what 
Daniel  and  Enoch  had  described.  Jesus 
neither  criticised  nor  rejected  the  apoca- 
lyptic beliefs  of  his  people.  Let  us  not 
forget  that  never  was  a  critical  question 
put  by  Jesus.  He  no  more  thought  of 
criticising  the  Messianic  hopes  of  his  time 
than  the  Pentateuch,  and  to  the  end  of  his 
life  he  affirmed  that  the  Messiah  would 
return  again  upon  the  clouds  of  heaven  to 
judge  the  world.^  He  took  this  place  of 
judge  as  much  in  the  early  days  ^  as  in  the 
parables  of  the  last  week  of  his  life.^  On 
tliis  point  he  never  changed.  He  was  to 
preside  over  the  last  Judgment.  This  was 
his  duty  and  office  as  Messiah. 

Further,  —  and  this  was  the  very  soul  of 
what  we  have  dared  to  call  his  profound  and 

1  To  hold  that  Jesus  took  these  expressions  in  a 
spiritual  sense'and  saw  only  figures  in  the  expressions, 
"  come  down  from  heaven,"  "  come  in  the  clouds,"  is 
to  represent  him  as  saying  aside  to  himself,  "  I  will 
adopt  all  the  phraseology  of  my  time  ;  I  will  use  the 
most  realistic  apocalyptic  language,  but  it  shall  be  in 
my  own  mind  only  figurative  and  symbolical  ;  and  I 
will  tell  no  one  this.    They  must  divine  it." 

2  Matt.  vii.  21  ff.  »  Matt.  xxv.  31  ff. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  109 

fine  genius,  —  though  he  destroyed  none 
of  his  people's  beliefs,  he  fulfilled  them, 
he  brought  out  their  very  life.  That  which 
in  his  eyes  was  most  grand,  most  sublime, 
in  the  coming  kingdom  was  that  justice 
should  be  established,  and  that  they  who 
now  hunger  and  thirst  should  be  filled.^ 
It  was  the  righteousness  of  the  kingdom 
which  men  must  first  of  all  seek,^  The 
sorrowful  should  be  consoled,  the  meek 
should  reign.3  The  future  kingdom  would 
not  be  an  avenging  kingdom,  a  kingdom 
of  blood  ;  Jesus  could  not  admit  that.  But 
he  did  not  reject  this  aspect  of  his  people's 
belief  as  the  result  of  critical  reasoning 
and  philosophical  examination  ;  his  soul 
refused  to  believe  for  a  single  moment  that 
the  kingdom  of  God,  which  in  his  view, 
as  in  that  of  all  Jews,  would  be  the  domi- 
nation of  God  and  consequently  of  the 
Father  who  is  in  heaven,  could  be  anyi;hing 
else  than  love,  peace,  joy,  pardon,  eternal 
life.  All  the  rest  was  for  him  as  if  it  did 
not  exist. 

At  a  later  day,  in  the  view  of  his  disci- 
ples, the  kingdom  would  be  the  Christian 
Church,  the  society  of  souls  who  believed 

I  Matt.  V.  6.        2  Matt.  vi.  33.        s  Matt.  v.  4  f. 


110  JESUS  CHRIST 

in  Jésus.  To  Jesus  it  was  nothing  else 
than  the  Messianic  era  ;  but  (and  it  is  here 
that  he  is  incomparably  great)  it  was  he 
who  prepared  for  the  conception  of  the 
disciples  by  raising  high  the  notion  of  the 
kingdom,  accepting  all  that  his  people 
taught  on  the  subject,  and  entirely  trans- 
forming it. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  111 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  KINGDOM  PREPAEED   FOR   BY   THE 
LOWLY  AND   THE  POOR 

T  ET  us  now  see  Jesus  preparing  for  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom. 

His  first  object  was  to  communicate  to 
men  that  sense  of  divine  sonship  which  he 
himself  fully  possessed  ;  he  desired  to  cre- 
ate it  in  men's  souls.  To  experience  this 
feeling,  one  must  become  "humble,"  — 
humble  in  rank,  in  money,  in  influence, 
and  humble  in  happiness.  Therefore  he 
declares  those  happy  who  weep  and  who 
suffer. 

Jesus  made  the  most  of  the  fact  that 
the  interpretations  by  his  contemporaries 
of  certain  passages  in  Daniel  concerning 
the  fifth  empire  were  very  diverse,  to  give 
another,  which  was  exceedingly  spiritual 
but  not  at  all  revolutionary.  Everything 
in  Judaism  was  to  be  retained,  but  it  was 
to  be  transformed,  and  this  transformation 


112  JESUS   CHRIST 

was  to  be  effected  by  a  change  in  hearts.^ 
It  was  nothing  else  than  piety,  true  piety, 
taking  the  place  of  rites  and  external  acts. 
This  piety  would  have  its  foundation  in 
humility,  renunciation,  a  profound  sense 
of  poverty  of  spirit. 

This  was  why  Jesus  preached  a  new 
righteousness,  which  he  opposed  to  that 
of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  In  their 
view,  alms,  fasts,  prayers,  works,  make 
a  man  righteous  and  confer  merit  upon 
him.  Jesus  preached  a  higher  righteous- 
ness.^ Man  must  humble  himself,  become 
lowly,  poor  in  spirit,  contemplative,  must 
hunger  and  thirst,  cry  earnestly  for  mercy, 
—  for  the  Father  is  merciful,  lie  is  full  of 
compassion,  he  remits  the  debt,  he  forgives 
those  who  forgive.  The  beginning  of  the 
new  life,  then,  is  the  desire  to  attain  to  it. 
To  be  conscious  of  our  shortcomings  is 
already,  in  some  sort,  to  receive  it.^ 

Yet  Jesus  never  said  that  hunger  and 
thirst  after  righteousness  carry  their  satis- 

1  It  is  always  the  same  method,  —  destroy  nothing, 
fulfil  all  things. 

2  Matt.  V.  20. 

8  It  has  been  said,  and  with  reason,  that  to  be  con- 
scious of  one's  limitations  is  already  in  some  degree 
to  have  overpassed  them 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  113 

faction  in  themselves.  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  in  no  sense  realized  by  the  fact  of 
being  sought  after,  desired,  aspired  unto. 
It  is  not  hunger  that  nourishes,  nor  thirst 
that  refreshes.  To  desire  righteousness  is 
not  to  obtain  it;  otherwise  the  kingdom 
would  have  been  founded  by  the  very  fact 
that  Jesus  was  preparing  for  it.  And  he 
never  said  so.  The  kingdom  was  to  come, 
and  righteousness  was  to  be  obtained  only 
at  a  later  time,  at  its  coming.  Then  those 
who  now  hunger  and  thirst  for  it  shall  be 
satisfied.  One  does  not  answer  his  own 
prayers  because  he  prays,  and,  in  the  same 
way,  one  does  not  enter  the  kingdom  be- 
cause he  seeks  for  it;  but  one  prepares 
himself  for  it  and  he  will  enter  it.  A 
change  of  hearts  and  minds  (repentance, 
"  for  the  kingdom  is  at  hand  ")  ^  is,  then, 
only  the  preparation  for  the  kingdom,  and 
not  the  kingdom  itself 

As  we  have  said,  Jesus  expected  the 
kingdom  on  earth.  The  transformation 
of  society  and  of  the  world  was  to  be 
accomplished  here,  as  soon  as  the  Jews 
should  be  converted.  Every  one  would 
then  acclaim  Jesus  as  Messiah;  the  king- 
1  Mark  i.  15  and  parallel  passages. 


114  JESUS   CHRIST 

dom  would  appear,  and  the  spiritual  dom- 
ination of  the  Clu'ist  would  begin  upon 
the  earth.  The  Father  would  accord  the 
promised  rewards,  —  those  of  some  would 
be  great  ;  ^  and  an  era  of  universal  felicity 
would  begin. 

What  was  to  take  place  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  era?  How  would  the  king- 
dom be  inaugurated  ?  By  a  sudden  change. 
The  contrary  of  that  which  is  would  be. 
The  world  to  come  would  be  the  present 
world  reversed.  The  first  would  be  last, 
and  the  last  first.^  At  the  present  time 
good  and  evil  are  mingled,  like  the  tares 
and  the  wheat  in  a  field.  Then  there 
would  be  a  great  separation  ;  it  would  be 
like  a  great  drawing  of  the  net.^  Jesus 
often  referred  to  the  surprise  which  this 
sudden  reversal  of  things  would  occasion. 
No  one  would  be  expecting  it,  and  when 
this  transformation  should  have  been  made 
it  would  be  final. 

One  of  'the  most  unexpected  reversals 
which  would    take    place   would  be   the 

1  Matt.  V.  12,  19,  X.  42;  Luke  vi.  23,  35;  Mark 
ix.41. 

2  Matt.  xix.  80,  xx.  16  ;  Mark  x.  31  ;  Luke  xiii.  30. 
8  Matt.  xiii.  24  f.,  31,  33,  47  £.  ;  Mark  iv.  11  f. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  115 

exaltation  of  the  lowly,  the  humble,  the 
unknown;  they  would  become  the  great, 
and  would  in  their  turn  take  fu-st  rank. 
Jesus  therefore  counted  much  upon  the 
poor  in  the  preparation  for  the  coming  of 
the  kinofdom.i  "  That  which  is  exalted 
among  men  is  an  abomination  in  the  sight 
of  God."  The  simple,  the  humble,  the 
fishermen  of  the  lake,  were  the  future 
children  of  the  kingdom.  Concerning  the 
rich,  Jesus  always  professed  the  most 
literal  Essenian  doctrine,  and  his  thought 
concerning  those  who  have  possessions 
never  varied.^ 

Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  the  environ- 
ment from  which  Jesus  came  was  that 
of  the  populace,  the  poor,  the  working- 
class,  and  that  the  artisans  and  humble 
people  who  knew  nothing  about  politics 
were  di'eaming,  above  all  things,  of  a  social 
renovation.  To  realize  a  fortune  and  give 
a  part  of  the  money  to  the  poor  was  for 
the  Essenes  one  of  the  first  conditions  to 
fulfil   in  order  to  be  ready  to  enter  the 

1  Luke  xvi.  15. 

'■2  Matt.  V.  3,  20,  xviii.  3,  xix.  14,  23,  24,  xxi.  31,  xxii. 
2  f.  ;  Mark  x.  14,  15,  23-25  ;  Luke  iv.  18  f .,  vi.  20,  xviii. 
16, 17,  24,  25. 


116  JESUS  CHRIST 

kingdom  when  it  should  appear;  and 
when  we  recall  to  mind  that  this  was 
also  the  case  in  the  earliest  Christian  com- 
mmiity,  we  recognize  that  we  are  here  in 
presence  of  an  idea  and  a  practice  of  the 
early  days. 

Furthermore  Jesus  preached  voluntary 
poverty.^  In  the  outset  of  his  ministry, 
and  probably  during  all  liis  youth,  he 
conceived  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as 
being  prepared  for  by  the  renunciation  of 
wealth. 

But  he  no  more  concerned  himself  with 
socialism  than  with  politics.  One  might 
sometimes  wish  that  the  true  practice  of 
the  Gospel  might  be  found  in  the  fulfil- 
ment of  certain  social  duties,  and  that 
doing  good  to  the  poor  might  serve  to 
found  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  not  so, 
except  so  far  as  love  for  the  poor  and  the 
practice  of  good  deeds  proceed  from  a 
higher  life,  and  are  the  natiu-al  fruit  of 
regeneration  of  the  new  birth.  All  Chris- 
tian duty  is  not  comprised  in  social  duty. 

Yet  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  in 
Jesus'  view  the  great  sign  of  the  Messiah 

1  Matt.  xix.  21  ;  Mark  x.  21  f .,  29,  30  ;  Luke  xviii. 
22  £. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  117 

was  "  the  Gospel  preached  to  the  poor."  ^ 
This,  according  to  him,  was  its  highest 
proof.  This  is  evident,  since  all  ranks 
were  to  change  places  in  the  kingdom. 
Those  who  are  called  the  world,  the 
doctors,  the  Sadducees,  the  aristocrats,  the 
priests  would  not  at  first  pass  inj  they 
would  enter  only  when  they  were  changed 
and  had  become  "  as  little  children." 

The  child  is  sacred  ;  ^  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  his.^  One  must  become  a  child  to 
enter  it.*  One  must  receive  the  kingdom 
as  a  little  child  when  it  comes,^  and  even 
now  it  is  to  the  children  that  the  Father 
reveals  his  secrets.^ 

One  day  Jesus  took  a  child  and  set  him 
in  the  midst  of  liis  disciples  and  said  to 
them:  "Except  ye  turn  and  become  as 
little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'^  The  king- 
dom is  for  children  and  for  such  as  are 
like  them." 

1  Matt.  xi.  5, 

2  Matt,  xviii.  5,  10, 14  ;  Luke  xvii.  2. 

3  Matt.  xix.  14  ;  Mark  x.  14  ;  Luke  xviii.  16. 

4  Matt,  xviii.  1  f .  ;  Mark  ix.  33  f .  ;  Luke  ix.  40  f. 
6  Mark  x.  15. 

6  Matt.  xi.  25;  Luke  x.  21. 

'  Matt,  xviii.  3  ;  Mark  ix.  35,  30  ;  Luke  ix.  46-48. 


118  JESUS    CHRIST 

The  kingdom  is  also  for  the  lowly  of 
this  world,  victims  of  the  rich  and  the 
proud.  It  is,  finally,  for  those  who  are 
without,  —  publicans,  people  of  bad  life  ; 
for  all  those  who  have  to  suffer  the  con- 
tempt of  persons  of  high  position,  of  those 
who  command,  who  have  much,  who  are 
well  thought  of. 

At  a  later  time  Jesus  went  still  further, 
and  said  that  the  gospel  was  for  Gentiles 
and  Samaritans,  —  at  a  later  time,  we  say  ; 
for  in  this  first  period  of  his  ministry  he 
was  not  yet  unsectarian,  and  he  shared  the 
notions  of  those  about  him  with  respect 
of  the  Gentiles.^ 

Meantime  the  kingdom  was,  from  first  to 
last,  the  kingdom  of  the  poor,  and  was 
prepared  for  by  the  exaltation  of  the  poor. 
This  is  pure  Ebionism.  In  Jewish  soci- 
ety of  the  first  century  those  were  called 
Ebionim  who  affected  indifference  to  all 

1  See  the  Mlowing  passages  :  Matt.  vi.  32,  "  After 
all  these  things  do  the  Gentiles  seek  ;  "  vi.  7,  "  Pray 
not  like  the  Gentiles  ;  "  vii.  6,  "  Give  not  that  which  is 
holy  unto  the  dogs  ;  "  xviii.  17,  "  Let  him  be  unto  thee 
as  the  Gentile."  Jesus  did  not  become  non-sectarian 
until  after  his  interview  with  a  Canaanitish  woman  ; 
we  sliall  speak  of  this  evolution  of  his  thouglit  in  the 
eleventh  chapter. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  119 

exterior  advantages,  —  glory,  pomp,  honor, 
and  especially  money.  The  Ebionim,  who 
were  very  pious  and  thoroughly  persuaded 
of  the  speedy  appearance  of  the  kingdom, 
were  a  class  marked  by  humility,  gentle- 
ness, and  resignation,  without  forming  a 
distinct  religious  party.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  their  recruits  came  almost  exclu- 
sively from  the  poorer  class  ;  hence  their 
name.  At  a  later  time  the  early  Christians 
were  called  Ebionites  by  the  Jews,  —  an 
irrefragable  evidence  that  Jesus  gained 
most  of  his  early  disciples  from  among 
them,  and  that  he  himself  was  an  Ebionite 
in  these  early  days  of  his  ministry,  when 
he  was  still  closely  attached  to  the  forms 
and  traditions  of  Judaism.  "  Woe  unto 
you  that  are  rich,"  he  said  in  his  teaching, 
"  for  ye  have  received  your  consolation  ! 
Woe  unto  you  that  are  full  now,  for  ye 
shall  hunger  !  Woe  unto  you,  ye  that 
laugh  now,  for  ye  shall  mourn  and 
weep  !  "  ^  "  When  thou  makest  a  din- 
ner or  a  supper  .  .  .  bid  the  poor,  the 
maimed,  the  lame,  the  blind:  and  thou 
shalt  be  blessed  ;  for  they  have  not  where- 
with to  recompense  thee  :  for  thou  shalt 
1  Luke  vi.  24  fi. 


120  JESUS   CHRIST 

be  recompensed  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
just."i 

"In  heaven,"  "the  recompense,"  Jesus 
was  always  saying,^  "  at  the  resurrection," 
"in  life  eternal,"  "in  the  kingdom  ;  "  syn- 
onymous expressions  all  of  them,  which  he 
borrowed,  with  the  ideas  which  they  ex- 
pressed, from  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
synagogue. 

To  understand  them,  and  above  all  to 
grasp  the  precise  thought  of  Jesus  about 
the  poor,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  for  a 
longf  time  a  feverish  democratic  movement 
had  been  fermenting  among  his  people. 
They  read  and  reread  —  and  Jesus  had 
often  read  —  the  numerous  passages  of 
the  Old  Testament  where  God  declares 
that  he  is  the  Avenger  of  the  weak  and 
the  oppressed.^  The  prophets  had  always 
fulminated  against  the  great.  In  the  minds 
of  many,  the  words  "  poor  "  and  "  gentle," 
"humble"  and  "pious,"  had  become  synony- 
mous, just  as  "rich"  had  come  to  signify 
"impious,  evil-disposed,  violent."      These 

1  Luke  xiv.  12-14. 

2  Matt.  V.  12,  X.  41  ;  Mark  ix.  41  ;  Luke  vi.  23, 35  ;  etc. 
8  Amos  ii.  6;   Isa.  Ixiii.  9;   Fs.  xxv.  9,  xxxvii.  11, 

Ixxix.  33. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  121 

ideas  had  long  been  growing  deeper  and 
stronger.  The  Book  of  Enoch  cursed  the 
rich  and  powerful.^  It  considers  luxury  as 
a  crime,  and  in  it  the  Son  of  man  de- 
thrones kings.^ 

In  the  first  century  the  rich  man  was 
the  "bad  rich  man,"  and  Jesus  called 
money  "the  mammon  of  unrighteousness."^ 
That  was  the  popular  and  current  term  for 
wealth.  It  was  held  to  be  always  unjust  and 
ill-ofotten.  The  rich  man  who  was  ''  clothed 
in  purple  and  fine  linen,"  who  "  fared 
smnptuously  every  day,"  had  already 
received  "his  good  things,"  "his  recom- 
pense," "that  which  was  due  him,"  and 
therefore  in  the  abode  of  the  dead  he  would 
be  "  in  torment  ;  "  the  poor  man,  who  had 
been  covered  with  sores,  and  to  whom  the 
rich  man  had  not  given  even  his  crumbs  to 
eat,  would  lie  "  in  Abraham's  bosom  "  and 
would  be  "  comforted."  "Why  ?  Because 
he  had  had  "  evil  things  "  in  his  life. 
Therefore  in  the  life  to  come  compensation 
would  be  made  him  ;  the  one  would  be 
"  in  anguish,"  and  the  other  "  comforted."  * 

1  Chaps,  xxiii.,  xc,  c,  civ. 

2  Chap.  xlvi.  4-8. 

8  Luke  xvi.  9.  *  Luke  xvi.  19  ff. 


122  JJSSUS    CHRIST 

This  doctrine  of  future  compensation 
had  been  current  since  the  times  of  the 
Maccabees,  and  it  was  this  which  had 
sustained  and  consoled  the  lowly  and 
obscure.  Their  resignation  was  made  of 
hope,  and  they  bore  their  burden  with  so 
much  the  more  courage  in  that  they  saw 
by  faith  the  future  abode  of  eternal  felicity, 
the  unending  banquet  where,  lying  in 
Abraham's  bosom,  they  should  diink  the 
wine  of  the  celestial  Passover,  which  was 
promised  to  them  forever. 

The  Ebionite  and  the  poor  were,  then, 
reckoned  holy  and  beloved  of  God.  It 
followed  that  material  poverty,  want  of 
money,  was  held  to  be  closely  allied  with 
the  sentiment  of  moral  destitution,  poverty 
of  spirit.  This  is  why  Jesus  sometimes 
said  that  in  order  to  enter  the  kingdom 
one  must  be  "  poor  "  (in  money)  ^  some- 
times that  he  must  be  "  poor  in  spirit  ;  "  ^ 
that  is,  poor,  in  his  own  mind,  his  own 
judgment,  humble  and  repentant. 

This  preference  for  those  whom  the 
world  disdains  and  despises  was  a  dis- 
tinctive feature  of  Jesus'  character.  He 
had  pity  on  the  weakness  and  powerless- 
1  Luke  vi.  20.  ^  Matt.  v.  3. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  123 

ness  of  the  lowly.  He  ardently  loved  the 
people  and  all  that  was  of  the  people,^  sur- 
passing his  contemporaries  in  this  respect, 
and  setting  himself  against  the  national 
aspirations  after  domination.  The  Ebionite 
desired  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  be- 
cause then  he  would  become  rich,  would 
command  in  his  turn,  and  humiliate  the 
proud  who  now  humiliated  him.  Jesus 
never  accepted  such  a  doctrine.  If  for  him 
true  greatness  was  in  serving,  it  was  not 
in  the  least  because  serving  would  lead  in 
the  end  to  being  served.  His  conscience, 
enlightened  by  incessant  communion  with 
the  Father,  transformed  and  spiritualized 
the  material  and  earthly  notions  of  his 
compatriots. 

No  doubt  he  believed  and  said  that 
when  the  kingdom  should  come,  righteous- 
ness would  reign  and  the  lowly  would  be 
happy  ;  but  they  were  to  be  happy  while 
remaining  lowly,  while  in  the  opinion  of 
most  of  the  Jews  it  was  the  strong,  the 
able,  the  violent,  who  were  to  reign.  The 
Pharisees  entirely  expected  to  be  first,  and 
we  have  already  had  occasion  to  say  that 
their  sole  purpose  in  strictly  carrying  out 
1  Matt.  ix.  36  ;  Mark  vi.  34. 


124  JESUS  CHRIST 

the  most  minute  prescriptions  of  the  Law 
was  to  secure  to  themselves  good  places 
in  the  kingdom.  Jesus  preached  the 
contrary. 

Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  appro- 
priated the  doctrine  of  compensation.  In 
the  last  centuries  before  his  birth  the  idea 
had  spread  abroad  that  God  could  not  have 
imposed  the  burden  of  life  upon  the  poor, 
the  afflicted,  the  lowly,  without  preparing 
for  them  compensation  in  the  future  king- 
dom and  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just, 
in  which  they  would  certainly  have  part. 
Jesus  made  his  own  this  idea,  which  was 
based  upon  faith  in  the  justice  of  God. 
There  was  to  be  a  distributive  justice,  —  a 
statement  which  is  the  profound  reason  of 
the  Beatitudes.^  Men  said,  "In  a  little 
while  the  deliverance  ;  "  Jesus  repeated  it 
with  unalterable  conviction.  Yet  a  little 
while  and  the  future  would  be  changed 
into  present,  sorrow  would  be  changed  into 
joy,  tears  into  laughter,  suffering  into  end- 
less well-being.  Thence  the  hope,  full  of 
confidence  and  gayety,  which  filled  all  the 
first  period  of  his  ministry. 

We  may  thus  sum  up  in  a  few  words  the 
1  Matt.  V.  3  ff. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  125 

earliest  preaching  of  Jesus  upon  the  king- 
dom of  Gocl.i  He  understood  by  kingdom 
a  condition  of  things  to  come,  an  ideal  life, 
supraterrestrial,  but  realized  on  earth  when 
the  Messiah  should  assume  his  place  of 
authority.  This  kingdom  of  God,  which 
he  preferred  to  call  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  because  it  was  then  in  heaven  and 
was  to  come  down  from  thence,  would  be 
the  abode,  on  the  transformed  earth,  of 
those  who  should  be  judged  worthy  to 
enter  therein. 

Jesus,  then,  taught  nothing  different  from 
his  contemporaries.  Yet  he  differentiated 
himself  from  them  by  sa3dng  that  no  one 
would  enter  the  kingdom  as  a  matter  of 
right,  that  he  must  be  prepared  by  conver- 
sion to  enter  at  a  futui-e  day.  The  poor 
were  nearer  to  conversion  than  the  rich. 
But  the  rich  were  not  shut  out  from  it,  — 
they  must  make  themselves  materially  and 
morally  poor,  —  and  the  poor  were  not  cer- 
tain of  it,  for  if  they  were  already  lowly  in 
social  position  they  must  add  to  this  exte~r- 
nal  poverty  poverty  of  spirit,  —  poverty  in 
a  spiritual  and  moral  sense.     He  himself, 

1  In  our  last  volume  we  shall  have  to  speak  of 
Jesus'  final  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 


126  JESUS   CHRIST 

the  Messiah,  was  charged  with  this  pre- 
paratoiy  work  for  all,  rich  and  poor. 

The  Jews  held  that  the  kingdom  would 
have  no  other  preparation  than  external 
miracles,  signs  from  heaven  impressing 
every  one  with  their  marvellous  character. 
Jesus  refused  these  signs  from  heaven.^ 
More  than  this,  the  whole  nation,  accord- 
ing to  the  Pharisees,  had  a  right  to  the 
kingdom  and  were  sure  to  enter  it;  the 
only  preparation  required  was  obedience  to 
the  Law  and  submission  to  Pharisaic  tradi- 
tion.2    Jesus  preached  precisely  the  reverse. 

At  a  later  time  the  Rabbis  taught  a 
purely  spiritual  and  moral  kingdom  of 
God,  but  in  the  time  of  Jesus  such  a  thing 
was  not  thought  of.  The  state  of  heart 
would  prepare  for  the  kingdom,  but  was 
not  the  kingdom  itself,  the  era  of  happi- 
ness, the  universal  palingenesis  which  Jesus 
at  first  firmly  hoped  to  produce  during  his 
life.  This  ,entirely  religious  hope  was  of  a 
fundamentally  Israelitish  and  national  char- 
acter, especially  in  the  earlier  period  of  his 
ministry.  As  we  have  said,  Jesus  was  not 
yet  unsectarian. 

1  Matt.  xii.  38  f.,  xvi.  1  f.  ;  Mark  viii.  11. 

2  Sank.  fol.  xxvii.  2. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY-  127 

Finally,  the  socialism  of  Jesus,  if  we 
may  so  much  as  use  the  word,  was  the 
reverse  of  the  socialism  of  to-day.  The 
absurd  dream  of  our  modern  Utopia-makers 
is  to  impoverish  the  rich  in  order  to  enrich 
the  poor  and  establish  an  equality  of 
fortune  which  will  make  everybody  com- 
fortable. Jesus  preached  equality  in  abne- 
gation and  poverty  for  all  men.  While 
with  many  of  our  contemporary  socialists 
the  object  is  to  become  rich,  have  posses- 
sions, enjoy,  his  was  to  become  poor,  empty 
oneself,  suffer,  —  yes,  suffer  ;  for  in  his 
view  happiness  consists  in  submission  to 
the  Father's  will,  humility  of  spirit  is  the 
true  greatness,  and  oneness  in  suffering  the 
true  equality,  —  the  only  equality  possible, 
the  only  equality  to  be  desired. 


128  JESUS   CHRIST 


CHAPTER   VIII 

JOUENEYS  TO  JERUSALEM 

"PP  VERY  year  Jesus  made  several  obliga- 
tory journeys  to  Jerusalem.  He  had 
always  made  them  ;  he  had  thus  been  able 
a  long  time  back  to  form  an  opinion  con- 
cerning the  Sadducees,  the  Temple,  and  the 
worship  which  was  celebrated  there.  We 
believe  that  his  convictions  in  this  respect 
date  at  latest  from  the  time  immediately 
preceding  his  entrance  upon  his  ministry. 

Like  every  true  Pharisee  and  every  seri- 
ous Essene,  he  had  separated  himself  from 
Sadduceeism.  Nevertheless  he  had  retained 
a  hope  of  succeeding  even  with  the  Sad- 
ducees ;  and  it  seems  to  us  certain  that 
before  deciding  upon  Capernaum,  on  the 
border  of  the  lake,  he  had  tried  to  make 
himself  known  in  Jerusalem. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  capital 
would  particularly  attract  him,  and  that  he 
did  not  resolve  to  shut  himself  up  in  the 
narrow  canton  of    Galilee   until   he   had 


DURING   HIS   MINISTRY  129 

failed  in  the  centre  itself  ;  lie  could  not 
lose  the  hope  of  being  one  day  welcomed 
in  that  place,  for  no  success  would  be 
final  for  his  purpose  except  as  he  should 
succeed  in  the  Holy  City.  Jerusalem  was 
what  he  needed  to  conquer  ;  and  when  she 
was  gained,  the  rest  of  the  country  would 
soon  be  his.  Therefore  he  did  not  settle 
upon  the  lake  shore  until  Jerusalem  had 
been  closed  to  him. 

It  is  true  that  the  traditional  Gospels 
know  only  the  ministry  in  Galilee,  with 
the  exception  of  the  last  week;  but  the 
Gospel  of  St.  John  has  preserved  for  us 
the  very  clear  memory  of  several  under- 
takings of  Jesus  at  Jerusalem,  most  of 
them  in  the  early  part  of  his  ministry, 
precisely  at  the  time  when  the  desire  to 
speak  and  act  at  the  very  centre  of  the 
nation  would  naturally  be  in  his  heart. 
Everything,  therefore,  leads  us  to  believe 
that  the  indications  of  the  fourth  Gospel 
are  in  this  respect,  as  in  others,  entirely 
historical.  Jesus  began  his  work,  not  in 
Galilee,  but  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  this  is  one 
of  the  many  touches  which  reveal  the  eye- 
witness revising  the  errors  of  the  synoptical 
tradition. 


130  JESUS   CHRIST 

It  is  again  remarkable  that  John  places 
the  purification  of  the  Temple  at  its  true 
date.  It  was  an  act  of  inauguration  ;  and 
the  first  three  Gospels,  which  know  only 
of  a  single  journey  to  Jerusalem,  although 
they  insist  upon  several,^  are  forced  to 
place  the  purification  of  the  Temple  in 
tliis  single  visit,  and  relegate  it  to  the 
last  week,  to  a  time  which  is  highly 
improbable.2 

In  one  of  his  early  journeys  to  Jerusa- 
lem, long  before  all  that  ministry  in  Gali- 
lee which  we  have  already  narrated,  Jesus 
had  driven  the  merchants  from  the  Tem- 
ple, because,  like  every  true  Pharisee  and 
every  true  Essene,  he  was  outraged  by  the 
profanation  of  the  sanctuary. 

He  expelled  the  sellers  in  the  Temple 
court  because  they  had  no  right  there  ;  he 
desired  them  to  install  themselves  outside 
the  doors.     Their  presence  in  the  Court  of 

1  Matt,  xxiii.  37.    Observe  particularly  the  word 

2  I  say  nothing  of  the  singular  opinion  of  those  who 
believe  in  two  purifications  of  the  Temple,  —  one  at  the 
opening,  the  other  at  the  close  of  Jesus'  ministry, — 
that  weak  invention  of  the  harmonists  who,  in  spite  of 
their  protestations,  are  the  slaves  of  their  invincible 
belief  in  the  infallibility  of  the  Bible. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  131 

the  Gentiles  was  an  insult  to  God;  they 
changed  "  a  house  of  prayer  "  into  a  "  den 
of  thieves." 

Moreover,  we  are  permitted  to  suppose 
that  Jesus  did  not  simply  object  to  the  fact 
that  they  were  installed  in  one  place  and 
not  in  another,  but  that  up  to  a  certain 
point  he  objected  to  their  presence  itself. 
It  is  certain  that,  save  the  Paschal  lamb 
(the  patriotic  and  family  feast,  which  he 
greatly  prized),  Jesus  seems  never  to  have 
offered  a  sacrifice  in  the  Temple.  He 
loved  to  recall  the  word  of  Jehovah  in 
Hosea,  saying,  "I  will  have  mercy  and 
not  sacrifice."  Besides,  sacrifices  had  fallen 
into  discredit.  None  of  the  Jews  "  of  the 
Dispersion"  offered  or  could  offer  them. 
These  were  none  the  less  pious  for  that, 
none  the  less  devoted  to  the  Law,  none  the 
less  thoroughly  true  Jews.  Jesus  acted  in 
the  character  of  a  liberal  Jew,  an  anti- 
Sadducean  Pharisee,  when  he  drove  the 
merchants  out  of  the  Temple  ;  and  this  act 
was  certainly  approved  by  the  Pharisees, 
at  the  same  time  that  it  brought  him  under 
the  disapproval  of  the  official  authorities. 
But  in  performing  it  and  in  opposing 
sacrifices,    Jesus    only    carried     out    the 


132  JESUS    CHRIST 

teaching  of  Isaiah,  when  he  wrote   these 
words  :  — 

"  What  have  I  to  do  with  the  multitude  of 

your  sacrifices,  says  Jehovah  : 
I  am  satiated  with  holocausts  of  rams,  and  the 

fat  of  calves. 
I  take  no  pleasure  in  the  blood  of  bulls,  of 

sheep,  and  of  goats. 
When  you  come  to  present  yourselves  before 

me, 
Who  requires  it  of  you  to  trample  my  courts? 
Cease  to  bring  vain  offerings. 
I  have  a  horror  of  incense. 
New  moons,  Sabbaths,  and  assemblies; 
I  cannot  look  upon  iniquity  and  the  solemn 

meeting  ; 
My  soul  hates   your  new  moons   and  your 

feasts, 
They  are  a  burden  to  me, 
I  am  weary  of  bearing  them. 
When  you  spread  forth  your  hands,  I  turn 

away  mine  eyes  ; 
When  you  multiply  prayers,  I  do  not  listen. 
Your  hands  are  full  of  blood  ; 
Wash  you,  make  you  clean, 
Put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before 

mine  eyes. 
Cease  to  do  evil. 
Learn  to  do  well,  seek  justice, 


DURING  ins  MINISTRY  133 

Protect  the  oppressed, 

Procure  justice  for  the  orphan, 

Defend  the  widow. 

Come,  let  us  plead  together,  saith  Jehovah."  ^ 

From  the  time  that  these  words  were 
written  the  Temple  was  doomed  to  dis- 
appear. 

The  ardent  apostrophes  of  Isaiah,  and 
other  similar  passages  of  the  Book  of  the 
Prophets,  were  read  and  re-read  by  the 
Pharisees,  by  the  Ebionites,  by  all  who  felt 
religious  longings  and  failed  to  find  their 
satisfaction  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  Tem- 
ple ;  and  a  separation  had  long  been  made 
between  these  and  the  aristocratic  Saddu- 
cees.  It  was  necessary  to  choose  either 
the  latter  or  the  liberal  Pharisees  ;  Jesus 
had  long  since  made  his  choice,  and  the 
purification  of  the  Temple  aroused  against 
him  the  hatred  of  the  priests.  On  that  day 
he  perceived  that  from  this  quarter  he  was 
certain  to  encounter  an  invincible  opposi- 
tion. He  was  indeed  too  independent  to 
succeed  in  a  circle  so  narrowly  restricted 
and.  unintelligently  conservative.  A  say- 
ing of  his  at  the  time  of  the  expulsion  of 

1  Isa.  i.  11-18  (Segoad's  French  translation). 


134  JESUS   CHRIST 

the  merchants  was  seized  upon,  distorted, 
and  characterized  as  blasphemy.^ 

From  this  time  Jesus  was  obliged  to  give 
up  the  thought  of  an  immediate  attempt 
upon  the  holy  city  ;  but  he  continued  duti- 
fully to  show  himself  there  tlu'ee  or  four 
times  a  year,  on  festal  occasions,  and  in 
any  case  in  the  month  Nisan,  at  the  Pass- 
over. 

He  was  strongly  attached  to  the  Passover 
pilgrimage,  to  which  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed from  childhood.  He  and  his  disci- 
ples used  to  go  up  together  to  the  capital  ; 
and  the  little  company,  unobserved  in  the 
enormous  multitudes  of  the  festival  days, 
would  keep  the  Paschal  feast  and  observe 
all  the  accustomed  rites.  They  would 
light  the  Sabbath  lamp,  —  as  indeed  they 
did  every  week,  but  with  more  solemnity 
on  this  day.  The  spiritual  family,  made 
up  of  the  apostles  and  the  Master,  would 
gather  around  the  unleavened  bread,  and 
would  sing  together  with  full  voices  the 
old  patriotic  and  religious  songs  which  they 
had  known  by  heart  from  childhood. 

Jesus  made  no  use  of  these  short  visits 
to  again  attempt  to  make  himself  known. 

1  John  ii.  19  f. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  135 

He  clearly  saw  that  the  hour  for  speaking 
in  the  porticos  of  the  Temple  had  not  yet 
come,  and  that  to  resume  his  former  attempt 
would  be  useless.  St.  John  has  preserved 
the  memory  of  an  interview  which  in  one 
of  his  earlier  visits  he  had  with  a  Pharisee 
of  note  named  Nicodemus.^  The  words 
then  exchanged  between  liim  and  his  inter- 
locutor no  doubt  also  served  to  show  him 
that  any  attempt  upon  a  society  so  unintel- 
ligent in  religious  tilings  would  be  entirely 
useless,  at  least  at  that  time. 

We  must  say  more.  The  annual  visits 
of  Jesus  to  Jerusalem  had  their  influence 
in  separating  him  from  Judaism,  at  least 
from  a  certain  kind  of  Judaism.  From 
these  visits  came  the  first  light  on  this  sub- 
ject ;  they  made  him  understand  how  little 
of  a  Jew  he  was,  and  that  day  by  day  he 
was  becoming  less  of  one.  Besides,  he 
had  failed  there  and  he  had  a  work  to 
do  in  Galilee.  It  was  already  begun,  it 
offered  bright  hopes  ;  it  was  the  work  to 
pursue. 

At  Jerusalem,  side  by  side  with  Sad- 
duceeism,  there  reigned  a  strict  union  of 
formalism  and  fanaticism,  that  is  to  say, 

1  John  iii.  1  £E. 


136  JESUS   CHRIST 

Pharisaism  inspired  by  a  most  detestable 
spirit,  than  which  there  can  hardly  be  any- 
thing more  repulsive  in  the  world. 

Jesus  saw  persons  passing  along  the 
streets  whom  he  afterward  described  to  his 
hearers  in  Galilee.  Here  is  one,  emaciated 
by  fasting,  heaving  profound  sighs,  moving 
painfully,  thus  to  exaggerate  his  appearance 
of  fatigue  and  exhaustion,  and  exhibiting 
to  the  public  a  face  as  of  an  exhumed 
corpse.  Here  is  another,  who  throws  a 
corner  of  his  mantle  over  his  head  above 
his  turban,  so  as  not  to  be  distracted  by  the 
sight  of  passing  women;  in  consequence 
he  sees  nothing,  and  bumps  himself  against 
the  walls.  Another,  standing  at  a  street 
corner  or  at  a  crossing  in  order  to  be  well 
seen,  turns  his  face  to  the  wall,  and  lifts 
up  his  voice;  he  is  praying,  telling  God 
how  he  pays  his  tithes  and  sets  an  example 
of  all  the  virtues;  a  fourth  walks  bent 
double,  his  head  as  low  as  possible,  paying 
heed  to  nothing,  because  he  is  absorbed  in 
meditation  on  a  difficult  text.  One  can 
imagine  the  indignation  with  which  such 
sights  inspired  Jesus.  "  Oh,  the  hypo- 
crites !  "  he  would  say  when  he  saw  them  ; 
"  they  have  received  their  reward  I  " 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  137 

Among  themselves,  in  their  schools,  these 
worthies  were  forever  deep  in  casuistries 
which  bristled  with  minute  points.  These 
were  the  doctors  of  occult  learning,  a  most 
accurate  notion  of  which  may  be  gained 
from  almost  any  page  of  the  Talmud. 
They  carried  on  discussions  of  most  ab- 
siu-d  puerility,  interminable  successions  of 
solemn  trivialities  without  the  slightest 
moral  value,  filling  with  pride  those  who 
devoted  themselves  to  these  so-called  stud- 
ies, and  closing  their  minds  to  such  a 
degree  that  these  barbarous  absurdities 
appeared  to  them  as  the  natural  and  seri- 
ous occupation  of  grave  and  respectable 
persons. 

There  was  not,  and  there  could  not  be,  a 
single  point  of  contact  between  Jesus  and 
these  Jerusalemites.  Besides,  Galileans 
were  a  despised  folk.  The  chsdain  which 
Jesus  had  already  been  aware  of  when  at 
the  age  of  twelve  years  he  accompanied 
Joseph  and  Mary  to  Jerusalem  for  the 
first  time,  he  had  felt  more  and  more 
acutely  every  year.  Their  accent  was 
laughed  at  ;  they  were  considered  unortho- 
dox ;  they  were  deemed  ignorant  and  some- 
what ridiculous. 


138  JESUS   CHRIST 

And  then  the  ideas  of  Jesus  had  decidedly- 
changed.  The  Temple,  where  at  the  age  of 
twelve  he  had  enjoyed  such  sweet  and 
pm-e  emotions,  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
called  what  he  was  doing  "  occupying 
himself  with  the  things  of  his  Father,"  ^ 
and  where  he  had  lingered,  forgetful  of 
everything  else,  —  the  Temple,  to  remain 
in  which  then  seemed  to  him  the  supreme 
happiness,  had  become  to  him  the  symbol  of 
all  that  was  to  disappear.  The  very  building 
itself  was  to  be  destroyed.  In  vain  had  it 
been  rebuilt,  in  vain  did  the  priesthood 
hope  for  it  a  long  future.  Jesus  perceived 
that  nothing  of  all  that  was  destined  to 
last  long.  Sadduceeism  would  pass  away, 
he  said  to  himself  ;  and  its  abode,  the  Tem- 
ple, would  also  pass  away.  He  who  often 
repeated,  "I  desire  mercy  and  not  sacri- 
fice," 2  could  not  look  upon  the  Temple  in 
another  light  than  that  of  the  Pharisees 
themselves,  and  the  latter  had  for  a  very- 
long  time  held  it  as  of  slight  consequence. 

Ah,  yes,  if  it  had  continued  to  be  what 
it  ought  to  have  been,  Jesus  would  have 
made  it  his  chosen  habitation  !  Even  in 
its  decadence  he  still  loved  it,  for  it  was 

1  Luke  ii.  49.  2  Hos.  vi.  6. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  139 

still  liis  Father's  house,  a  "  house  of 
prayer;"  and  though  it  might  have  be- 
come the  arena  of  discussions,  disputes, 
and  subtile  questions,  he  still  made  it  his 
centre  on  all  his  visits.  But  what  he 
saw  there  deeply  pained  him.  In  the 
court  were  stalls,  mercantile  operations, 
all  the  movement  and  traffic  of  a  bazaar  ; 
for  it  is  needless  to  say  that  the  expulsion 
which  he  effected  was  followed  by  no 
enduring  result.  Before  the  sanctuary 
were  hideous  scenes  of  butchery,  and 
among  the  Temple  servants  an  irreligious 
vulgarity  wliich  wounded  his  pious  feel- 
ings. This  debased  priesthood  did  not 
seem  to  him  the  inheritors  of  the  ancient 
traditions.  The  true  heirs  were  those  spir- 
itually minded  ones  who  carried  forward 
the  first  chapter,  of  Isaiah,  and  were  in- 
spired with  its  prophetic  utterances. 

"  To  love  God  and  one's  neighbor  is 
much  more  than  all  whole  burnt  offerings 
and  sacrifices."  ^  This  the  Scribes  of  his  time 
loudly  proclaimed.  Much  more  was  Jesus 
convinced  of  it.  The  synagogue,  with  its 
orators,  its  liberty  of  preaching,  appeared 
to  him  far  more  serious  and  important  than 
1  Mark  xii.  33. 


140  JESUS   CHRIST 

the  meclianical  ritualistic  functions  of  in- 
different and  formalizing  priests. 

There  were  then,  so  to  s|)eak,  two 
Judaisms,  growing  ever  wider  and  wider 
apart.  On  one  side  the  men  of  the 
Talmuds,  the  learned  men,  laics  all  of 
them,  rulers  of  the  synagogue  and  belong- 
ing to  the  Pharisaic  party.  On  the  other 
side  the  priests,  occupying  an  elevated 
rank,  rulers  of  the  Temple  and  even  of  the 
Sanhédrin,  forming  an  incredulous.  Epi- 
curean, almost  impious  aristocracy,  a  sacer- 
dotal caste  apart  from  the  people  and 
the  national  sentiment  represented  by  the 
Zealots,  who  were  enthusiastic  laymen. 
The  Sadducees  would  have  no  innovators 
nor  innovations  ;  the  official  routine  sufficed 
for  them.  It  was  they  first  who  detached 
Jesus  from  Judaism.  The  sight  of  the 
irreligion  and  moral  carelessness  of  those 
who  were  in  possession  of  the  Temple 
itself,  the  haughty  impiety  of  those  who 
represented  the  race  of  Aaron,  first  began 
to  persuade  Jesus  of  the  necessity  of  ab- 
rogating the  Law. 

Luther  lost  all  his  illusions  at  Rome. 
In  the  same  way  Jesus  learned  much  from 
his  visits  to  Jerusalem.     His  rupture  with 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  141 

the  Temple  preceded  his  rupture  with  the 
Pharisees.  It  must,  then,  have  been  effected 
during  the  visits  which  he  made  to  the  holy 
city  during  his  Galilean  ministry  ;  and  this 
first  separation  marks  his  entrance  upon 
the  second  phase  of  his  ministry,  —  for  it 
was  soon  followed  by  the  second. 

Up  to  tliis  time  he  had  been  a  Jewish 
reformer  ;  henceforth  he  was  to  be  the 
destroyer  of  Judaism.  The  latter,  under 
its  sacerdotal  form,  inspired  in  him  a 
repugnance  with  which  its  Pharisaic  form 
was  shortly  also  to  inspire  him.  It  was 
necessary  that  the  sacrifices  should  be 
abolished.  The  fulfilling,  of  which  he 
often  spoke,  would  in  this  case  be  an  abo- 
lition. Here  again  Jesus  adheres  to  Es- 
senism,  and  develops  an  idea  which  he 
received  from  the  Essenes,  for  they  were 
entirely  indifferent  to  the  Temple,  all 
of  them  considering  it  as  impious  and 
profaned. 

On  his  return  to  Galilee  after  these 
journeys  to  Jerusalem,  Jesus  used  to  re- 
sume his  work  of  preparation  for  the 
kingdom  ;  but  we  have  now  arrived  at  a 
time  where  he  could  not  again  resume  it: 
the  rupture  with  the  Pharisees  was  now  in 


142  JESUS  CHRIST 

its  turn  about  to  be  precipitated.  Jesus 
was  to  separate  himself  from  tiiem.  In  fact, 
he  had  for  a  long  time  been  separate  from 
them.  He  had  thought  liimself  still  of 
their  number,  doing  nothing  else  than 
accentuate  the  liberality  of  the  best  among 
them.  But  now  he  perceived  to  what  an 
extent  he  actually  repudiated  them,  and 
with  them  all  Judaism. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  143 


CHAPTER  IX 

OPPOSITION   TO   JESUS 

JESUS  preached  a  long  time  in  Galilee 
without  encountering  the  slightest  op- 
position. Rabbis  were  going  about  the 
country  ;  he  was  one  of  them  ;  they  were  all 
free,  and  no  preacher  was  disturbed  by  any 
one  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry.  Ex- 
hortations and  cures  attracted  some  people 
and  left  others  indifferent,  and  the  little 
Jewish  world  none  the  less  went  on  its 
e very-day  life. 

But  the  success  of  Jesus  was  such  that 
at  last  it  excited  both  jealousy  and  fear. 
On  certain  days  the  people  came  in  crowds 
to  hear  him.^  Certain  Pharisees  who  had 
been  far  from  attaining  such  success,  saw 
all  this  with  displeasure  ;  and  from  this  to 
finding  Jesus  in  error,  insisting  that  his 
success  was  not  sound,  and  investigating 
his  life,  discovering  in  it  omission  of  rites 

1  Matt.  iv.  25  ;  Mark  ii.  4  ;  Luke  v.  1,  viii.  4, 19,  xi. 
29,  xii.  1  ;  etc. 


144  JESUS   CHRIST 

and  errors  of  practice  or  of  doctrine,  was 
not  very  far.  Jesus  perceived  that  he  was 
being  spied  upon,  suspected  ;  that  his  liber- 
ality was  criticised  ;  and  the  time  came 
when  he  was  obliged  to  hide  himself.^ 

He  had  already  been  repelled  from  Naz- 
areth; and  he  had  certainly  been  very 
sensitive  to  the  aloofness  of  his  own  com- 
patriots. The  Nazarenes,  who  had  known 
him  as  a  child,  persisted  in  remaining  un- 
believing. They  had  serni  Jesus  grow  up 
in  their  village  ;  they  remembered  the  car- 
penter's bench,  his  sisters  were  married  in 
the  town,  his  brothers  did  not  believe,^  and 
decidedly  he  could  not  be  a  prophet  in  his 
own  country  :  he  admitted  that  himself. 
On  the  border  of  the  lake,  Chorazin  and 
Bethsaida  had  also  refused  to  yield  to 
him.3  But  it  was  above  all  from  the  Phar- 
isees that  gradually  came  the  most  overt 
opposition,  that  which  was  destined  to 
take  on  formidable  proportions  and  piu-- 
sue  Jesus  td  the  very  end. 

In  the  presence  of  this  new  opposition, 

J  Matt.  xiii.  14-16;  Mark  iii.  7,  ix.  29,  30. 
2  John  vii.  5. 

8  Matt.  xi.  21,  24;  Luke  x.  12-15;  Matt.  xii.  41, 
42  ;  Luke  xi.  3i;  32,  xviii.  8. 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  145 

the  tokens  of  hostility  which  we  have 
ah-eady  seen  count  for  nothing.  When 
Jesus  was  repelled  at  Jerusalem,  it  was 
only  by  Sadduceeism,  a  form  of  Jewish 
faith  which  had  no  strength  and  no  future. 
When  he  failed  at  Nazareth,  it  was  as  the 
consequence  of  local  animosity  resting 
on  private  motives.  But  the  rupture  with 
the  Pharisees  was  the  rupture  with  Juda- 
ism itself,  of  all  in  it  that  was  most  vital 
and  authentic. 

Up  to  this  time  —  and  this  is  the  character 
of  this  first  period  of  his  ministry  —  Jesus, 
as  we  have  said  and  shown,  had  remained 
in  the  great  current  of  the  best  Pharisaic 
ideas.  He  had  pursued  a  parallel  work 
with  that  of  the  Pharisees,  in  no  sense 
hostile  to  it,  but  on  the  contrary  affording 
numerous  points  of  contact  with  it  ;  but 
little  by  little  the  resemblance  had  been 
effaced.  In  reality,  for  a  long  time  Jesus 
had  been  little  by  little  detaching  himself 
from  Pharisaism  without  in  any  wise  in- 
tending it,  believing  himself  to  be  faithful 
to  the  true  spirit  of  the  religion  of  his 
people,  persuaded  that  he  was  destroying 
nothing,  but  fulfilling  all  things.  From 
this  time  he  perceived  that  the  spirit  which 
10 


146  JESUS   CHRIST 

animated  him  and  the  reform  which  he 
desired  were  not  in  the  least  conformable 
to  the  hopes  of  his  people,  and  especially 
of  those  who  led  them,  the  Pharisees. 

On  the  one  hand,  his  success  was  increas- 
ing ;  on  the  other,  that  which  divided  him 
from  the  old  Judaism  was  growing  sharper, 
a  separation  was  inevitable. 

In  fact,  the  formalism  of  the  Pharisees 
had  always  displeased  him.  He  had  at  all 
times  disapproved  of  the  vain  practices 
and  affectations  of  many  among  them.^ 
He  preached  the  religion  of  the  heart,  and 
his  whole  law  was  the  love  of  God,  charity, 
forgiveness. 2  We  have  said  that  he  estab- 
lished no  religious  practice  ;  that  if  he 
later  instituted  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist, 
still  for  the  moment  he  desired  only  a 
heart-religion  which  should  show  itself  by 
fulfilling  the  will  of  God  and  not  by  exterior 
mechanical  practices.^  He  remained  true 
to  the  tradition  of  the  prophet  Isaiah. 
That  book  was  certainly  among  his  chosen 
reading,  and  we  do  not  dispute  that  more 

1  Matt.  XV.  9,  ix.  14,  xi.  19,  vi.  2  ft. 

2  Matt.  xxii.  37  f .  ;  Mark  xii.  28  f .  ;  Luke  x.  25  f. 

8  Matt.  XV.  8  ;  Mark  vii.  6  ;  borrowed  from  Isa. 
xxix.  13. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  147 

than  one  of  the  Pharisees  secretly  approved 
of  him. 

But  he  was  decidedly  too  liberal  for  the 
majority  of  them,  and  he  became  more  and 
more  so  all  the  time.  Concerning  the 
Sabbath  in  particular,  he  was  more  than 
liberal  ;  he  openly  violated  it.^  Not  that 
he  rejected  it  in  itself,  but  he  rejected 
the  superstitious  beliefs  and  the  miserable 
casuistry  of  which  its  observance  was  the 
source. 

The  same  was  the  case  with  ablutions 
and  the  interminable  discussions  concern- 
ing what  is  pure  and  what  is  impure.^ 
Finally,  he  explicitly  accused  the  Phari- 
sees ;  he  called  them  "  blind  leaders  of  the 
blind,"  and  declared  that  they  were  "in- 
wardly corrupt."  ^ 

Let  us  make  clear  the  points  upon 
which  Jesus  squarely  se^Darated  himself 
from  Pharisaism.  He  said  that  it  was  the 
heart  which  must  be  changed  :  with  the 
Pharisees  observances  sufficed.  They  were 
satisfied,  sure  of  themselves,  laying  em- 
phasis  on   external  things,    austere   in  a 

1  Matt.  xii.  1-5  and  parallel  passages. 

2  Mark  vii.  1  ff. 

8  Matt.  xii.  34,  xv.  1  f .,  xxiii.  ;  Luke  vi.  45,  xi.  39  f. 


148  JESUS   CHRIST 

somewliat  narrow  way,  making  veritable 
dupes  of  their  disciples.  Jesus  preached 
to  the  poor,  the  humble,  the  lowly  ;  and 
the  Pharisees  had  a  religion  for  people  of 
standing.  They  were  impeccable  pedants, 
always  in  the  right;  they  took  the  cliief 
seats  in  the  synagogues,  and  did  their  alms 
to  the  sound  of  the  trumpet.  Jesus  re- 
quired humility  and  fear  in  view  of  the 
judgment  of  God,  and  the  Pharisees  prayed 
aloud,  dragging  their  feet  and  stumbling 
at  the  stones,  walking  with  bended  backs, 
overwhelmed  with  the  burden  of  the  Law. 
It  was  especially  the  Pharisees  of  the 
school  of  Shammai  who  kept  at  a  distance 
from  Jesus,  and  from  whom  Jesus  also 
kept  at  a  distance.  Agreeing  mth  them 
on  a  single  point,  divorce,  Jesus  certainly 
preferred  the  Pharisees  of  the  school  of 
Hillel.  The  disciples  of  Shammai  were 
narrow  and  exclusive  ;  they  stifled  the 
Law  under  tradition,  and  in  the  inter- 
est of  its  protection  surrounded  it  with  a 
hedge.  Their  conservative  measures  were 
feeble  and  outworn  precautions,  which 
could  not  but  arouse  the  repugnance  of 
every  one  who  had  any  degree  of  breadth 
of  mind. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  149 

Thus  it  was  that  Jesus  felt  the  bonds  to 
be  breaking,  one  by  one,  that  up  to  this 
time  had  held  him  to  the  Judaism  of  his 
day.  The  synagogue  which  he  had  fre- 
quented and  loved,  the  worship  practised 
by  his  mother,  the  worsliip  which  had 
entranced  liis  childhood  and  which  indeed 
he  never  entirely  gave  up,i  were  no  longer 
for  liim  what  they  had  once  been.  It  was 
impossible  that  he  should  not  find  the 
worsliip  hollow  and  the  teaching  a  tissue 
of  error.  And  it  was  these  Pharisees  who 
were  the  leaders  of  it,  —  the  Pharisees  on 
whom  he  had  so  strongly  counted  ! 

Henceforth  he  would  struggle  against 
official  hypocrisy,  opposing  text  to  tradi- 
tion. Theology,  as  it  develops,  always 
goes  farther  and  farther  from  its  starting- 
point.  Jesus  showed  the  Pharisees  that 
they  must  go  back  to  the  authorities  and 
hold  fast  by  the  texts  ;  the  Protestants 
were  to  do  the  same  thing  in  the  sixteenth 
century.2 

But  he  did  more,  and  the  exegetical 
argument  was  not  the  essential  one  in  his 
eyes.     Before  appealing  to  texts   he   had 

1  Luke  iv.  IG,  "according  to  liis  custom." 

2  Matt.  XV.  2  ff.  :  Mark  vii.  2. 


150  JESUS   CHRIST 

appealed  to  the  authority  of  his  conscience. 
As  early  as  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as 
we  showed  in  our  former  volume,  he  op- 
posed to  the  text  itself  his  "  But  /  say 
unto  you."  ^  If  the  Pharisees  altered  Mosa- 
isni  with  their  traditions,  he  did  not  simply 
refer  everytliing  to  Moses,  nor  simply  re- 
store the  old  religion.  He  did  not  put 
new  wine  into  old  wine-skins.^  He  created 
a  new  order  of  things,  a  new  and  final 
religion.  Decidedly  he  not  only  separated 
himself  from  the  Judaism  of  his  time,  but 
from  the  ancient  Law,  the  Torah  itself. 

Yet  the  Pharisees  did  not  attack  him 
upon  that  point.  His  "I  say  unto  you" 
might  pass  for  an  interpretation,  a  com- 
mentary; and  they  themselves  made  the 
like.  True  first-century  Jews,  what  espe- 
cially grieved  them  was  that  Jesus  did  not 
observe  the  rites.  He  miglit  think  as  he 
liked,  but  the  intolerable  thing  was  that 
he  did  not  practise.  What!  he  did  not 
fast  !  He  did  not  refrain  from  a  single  one 
of  the  thirty-nine  works  forbidden  on  the 
Sabbath  day  !  He  associated  with  sinners, 
continually  contracted  uncleannesses,  and 

1  Matt.  V.  22,  28,  34,  etc. 

•-!  Matt.  ix.  17  ;  Mark  ii.  22;  Luke  v.  38. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  151 

did  not  so  much  as  dream  of  perceiving 
it  !  And  he  required  nothing  of  his  dis- 
ciples, taught  them  nothing  of  what  is 
permitted  and  what  forbidden,  and  the 
apostles  never  fasted  !  ^  What  !  no  ab- 
lutions, no  complete  bath  before  meals  ! 
He  said,  "  Give  alms,  and  all  things  are 
clean  unto  you."  ^  What  a  scandal  !  The 
Pharisees  were  ruffled  to  the  last  degree. 
The  parable  of  the  Pharisee  and  the  Pub- 
lican carried  their  exasperation  to  a 
climax.^ 

Their  hatred  increased  in  direct  propor- 
tion to  the  increasing  aloofness  of  Jesus 
from  Judaism.  It  is  certain  that  he  was  by 
this  time  hardly  a  Jew,  and  that  at  bottom 
he  had  always  been  very  little  a  Jew. 
When  he  uttered  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
spiritualizing  Pharisaism  and  interpreting 
the  Law  in  its  largest  sense,  he  believed 
himself  to  be  in  the  great  current  of  au- 
thentic Judaism  ;  he  expected  to  preserve 
it  by  reforming  it.  Therefore  he  affirmed 
that  not  one  jot  should  pass  without  being 
fulfilled,    but    fulfilled   in   his   own  way, 

1  Matt.  XV.  1  ff.  ;  Mark  vii.  4,  8  ;  Luke  v.  33-39,  and 
vi.  1  ff.,  xviii.  38  ff. 

2  Luke  xi.  41.  ^  Luke  xviii.  9  £. 


152  JESUS  CHRIST 

fulfilled  after  having  been  transformed; 
and,  rising  from  the  act  to  the  sentiment 
■which  dictated  it,  he  thought  himself  to  be 
professing  true  Mosaism.  We  have  already- 
compared  him  to  Luther  protesting  against 
indulgences,  convinced  that  he  was  doing 
the  work  of  a  good  Catholic,  certain  that 
the  Pope  would  approve  of  him,  yet  soon 
to  be  cast  out  and  excommunicated.  Tliis 
was  logical,  for  he  had  not  for  a  long  time 
been  a  Catholic.  In  the  same  way  Jesus, 
preaching  a  change  of  heart,  saying  that 
the  act  itself  was  notliing,  appealing  to  the 
moral  sense,  was  no  longer  a  Jew;  for 
practice  and  the  deed  performed  are  the 
very  essence  of  Judaism. 

Thus  Jesus  and  the  Pharisees  engaged 
in  an  open  conflict.  The  latter  accused 
Jesus  of  casting  out  demons  by  the  prince 
of  demons.^  The  attack  was  brutal;  it 
began  with  the  most  odious  of  calumnies 
and  the  most  offensive  of  insults.  The 
accusation  that  Jesus  was  inspired  by  Satan 
recalls  the  accusation  formulated  in  the 
Middle  Ages  in  the  words,  "  He  has 
sold    his   soul  to  the    Devil,"  —  so   true 

1  Matt.  xii.  24  ;  Mark  iii.  22  ;  Luko  xi.  15. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  153 

it  is   that  clerical  hatred  is   the  same  in 
all  times. ^ 

1  In  his  reply  Jesus  seems  to  admit  that  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  present.  We  have  already  explained 
this  passage,  but  it  is  useful  to  recur  to  it  here.  Jesus 
first  said,  "  If  I  by  the  finger  of  God  cast  out  demons, 
then  is  the  kingdom  of  God  come  upon  you"  (Matt, 
xii.  28;  Luke  xi.  20).  This  passage  does  not  signify 
that  the  kingdom  is  already  founded,  but  simply  that 
it  is  imminent.  The  kingdom  has  come  ê^'  ifxas.  The 
term  expresses  a  menace,  something  that  is  to  happen- 
The  kingdom  confronts  you  with  its  chastisements. 
You  are  living  immediately  before  its  coming.  This 
fact,  that  demons  are  to-day  cast  out  by  me  with 
the  aid  of  God,  proves  the  speedy  appearance  of  the 
kingdom  ;  you  have  come  face  to  face  with  it,  and  it 
is  close  by.  The  same  was  the  case  when  the  Phari- 
sees asked  Jesus  when  the  kingdom  would  appear 
(Luke  xvii.  20),  and  he  replied,  "The  kingdom  of  God 
Cometh  not  with  observation  :  neither  shall  they  say, 
Lo,  here  !  or  Lo,  there  !  for  lo,  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
in  your  midst."  Here  Jesus  said  :  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  not  being  prepared  for  by  exterior  signs, 
miracles,  portents,  as  you  Pharisees  suppose  :  there 
will  no  doubt  be  great  signs  at  the  last  hour,  catas- 
trophes and  terrible  woes  ;  but  all  that  will  happen 
only  when  hearts  are  ready.  When  men  are  prepared 
to  enter  the  kingdom,  when  they  are  changed,  born 
anew,  become  as  little  children,  poor,  simple,  —  trans- 
formations which  are  not  visible,  —  then  the  kingdom 
will  appear  without  development,  suddenlyj-  without 
precursory  signs,  like  the  thief  in  the  night.  The 
premonitory  signs  will  be  purely  moral,  and  by  these 
signs,  which  already  exist,  the  kingdom  is  announced  ; 
it  is  virtually  present  in  my  person.    There  will  be  no 


154  JESUS   CHRIST 

Jesus  replied  by  making  use  of  a  weapon 
which  he  wielded  as  he  alone  could  do,  — 
irony.  It  is  seldom  that  there  is  no  ill- 
nature  in  irony.  There  was  none  in  the 
irony  of  Jesus  ;  it  was  holy  because  it  was 
always  just  and  always  merited.  Therefore 
it  touched  the  heart,  and  the  Jews  never 
recovered  from  it.  The  ridicule  which 
attaches  to  their  name  dates  from  the  day 
when  Jesus  said  to  one  of  them,  "Which 
of  these  three,  thinhest  thoît,  proved  neigh- 
bor unto  him  that  fell  among  the  robbers?  "  ^ 
Or  again,  "  Many  good  works  have  I  shown 
you  .  .  .  for  which  of  those  works  do  ye 
stone  me?"^  "Is  it  lawful  on  the  Sab- 
bath day  to  do  good,  or  to  do  harm  ?  to 
save  a  soul,  or  to  destroy  it  ?  "  ^  "  Is  one  a 
debtor  when  he  swears  by  the  Temple? 
or  must  he  swear  by  the  gold  of  the  Tem- 

sign  which  men  can  observe  and  say,  "  Here  is  the 
kingdom,"  for  I  am  the  true  sign,  it  is  I  whom  you 
must  observe  and  listen  to.  No  other  proof  will  be 
given  you  than  my  own  person.  That  we  must  not 
understand  by  these  words  that  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  present  and  founded,  is  proved  by  the  witness  of  the 
fact  that  everywhere  else,  before  and  after  this  mo- 
ment, Jesus  announces  the  kingdom  as  to  come. 
(Matt.  xix.  23  ;  Mark  x.  23,  25  ;  Luke  xviii.  24,  26.) 

1  Luke  X.  36.  »  John  x.  32. 

^  Luke  vi.  9. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  155 

pie  ?  1  by  the  altar,  or  by  the  gift  that  is 
upon  it  ?  "  —  childish  casuistry  upon  which 
Jesus  poured  out  his  scorn.  His  blows 
were  mortal,  and  the  Pharisees  allied  them- 
selves with  the  Herodians  to  bring  about 
his  very  death.  Their  hatred  could  be 
gratified  by  no  less.  They  banded  them- 
selves together  ;  in  face  of  a  common  enemy 
adversaries  become  friends.  The  day  would 
come  when  Pilate  and  Herod  would  be- 
come friends  ;  and  already  the  Pharisees, 
"the  pure,"  were  making  an  agreement 
with  spies  in  the  pay  of  Antipas  ;  to-mor- 
row they  would  come  to  an  agreement 
with  the  Sadducees,  whom  in  the  depths  of 
their  hearts  they  execrated.  From  tliis 
time  they  had  only  one  thought  :  "  Death 
to  the  innovator  !  " 

Jesus  soon  became  aware  of  an  incipient 
unpopularity,  which  could  not  but  increase. 
He  asked  himself  what  could  be  the  out- 
come of  this  opposition.  Failure  and  defeat, 
even  his  own  premature  passing  away,  did 
not  seem  to  him  impossible.  Once,  when 
he  was  asked  why  his  disciples  did  not 
fast,2  he  compared  himself  in  his  answer  to 

1  Matt,  xxiii.  16. 

2  Mark  ii.  18  ff.  and  parallel  passages. 


156  JESUS   CHRIST 

a  bridegroom,  saying  sadly,  "  The  day  will 
come  when  the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken 
away  !  "  ^  It  was  only  a  passing  surmise, 
but  its  significance  is  clear.  This  allu- 
sion is  the  first  ;  Jesus  then  foresaw  a  pos- 
sible violent  death.  Up  to  this  time  all 
had  been  beautiful  like  a  joj^ul  marriage 
feast.  "  We  have  not  fasted,"  the  happy 
and  peaceful  disciples  had  been  able  to  say  ; 
and  here  was  the  master,  the  bridegroom, 
saying,  "  I  shall  be  taken  away  from 
you  !  "  This  taking  away,  this  disappear- 
ance, seemed  to  him,  if  not  certain,  at  least 
as  very  possible. 

Jesus  retained  a  few  personal  friends 
among  the  Pharisees,  but  the  bulk  of  the 
party  became  more  and  more  unfavorable 
and  hostile  to  him,  and  he  separated  him- 
self from  them  continually  more  and 
more. 

His  Messianic  ideas  began,  in  their  turn, 
to  change  .their  character.  To  the  exterior 
ch'ama  now  beginning  corresponded  hence- 
forth an  interior  drama  which  nothing  in 
history  at  all  resembles.  First  the  pos- 
sibility, then  the  extreme  probability,  and 
finally  the  certainty  of  a  violent  and  ap- 

1  ànaperj.     Mark  ii.  20. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  157 

proaching  death,  —  such  was  the  new  ele- 
ment which  was  about  to  enter  into  his 
previsions  of  the  future  ;  and  as  his  con- 
viction that  he  was  the  Messiah  never 
weakened  for  an  instant,  as  the  certitude 
of  this  which  he  had  gained  at  his  baptism 
was  final  and  unalterable,  he  began  to  con- 
ceive of  a  Messiah  who  might  be  perse- 
cuted and  put  to  death,  and,  consequently, 
who  might  disappear  before  the  advent  of 
the  kingdom.  The  association  of  these  two 
ideas  was  something  so  strange  and  unheard 
of,  —  a  violent  death  on  one  side,  and  Messi- 
anism  on  the  other,  —  it  was  so  far  outside 
of  all  that  a  Jew  of  that  time  could  con- 
ceive or  imagine,  that  it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  interior  strug- 
gles which  Jesus  must  have  gone  through, 
the  painful  surprises,  the  acts  of  abnega- 
tion, and  the  immensity  of  the  sacrifice  to 
which  he  was  called.  To  give  up  all  that 
he  had  believed,  hoped,  understood  !  For 
long  years  he  had  believed,  he  had  known, 
himself  to  be  the  Messiah  ;  he  had  the  very 
clear  consciousness  that  he  had  to  perform 
a  Messianic,  that  is  to  say,  a  royal  task  ; 
and  this  idea  had  been  for  him  absolutely 
exclusive  of  that  of  suffering.     And  yet 


158  JESUS   CHRIST 

he  came  at  last  to  accept  suffering  and 
premature  death,  a  death  above  all  others 
ignominious  and  infamous.  Ah  !  it  is  cer- 
tain that  we  shall  never  sound  the  depths 
of  the  Messianic  consciousness  of  Jesus. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  159 


CHAPTER  X 

INSTITUTION   OF  THE  APOSTOLATE 

■\1 /"HEN  these  dark  presentiments  awoke, 
Jesus  remained  as  secure  as  ever  of 
the  accomplishment  of  his  task.  Never  a 
shadow  of  doubt,  of  liis  Father  or  of  his 
mission  or  of  himself,  darkened  his  soul. 
The  nation  rejected  him;  so  let  it  be. 
Well,  he  would  cut  loose  from  it  ;  and  he 
decided  to  found  a  society  of  disciples 
whom  he  would  send  forth  to  prepare  for 
the  coming  of  the  kingdom.  When  that 
should  appear,  the  tjvelve  tribes  would  be 
restored  ;  ^  therefore  it  was  necessary  that 
these  continuators  of  his  work,  the  future 
heads  of  the  national  kingdom,  should  be 
twelve  in  number.  Jesus  chose  them  from 
among  the  best  of  his  disciples,  and  gave 
them  the  name  of  apostles.  Some  of  them, 
who  had  been  especially  faithful,  were 
naturally   designated  :    the   two   brothers, 

1  Matt.  xix.  28  :  Luke  xxii.  30. 


160  JESUS   CHRIST 

Bene  Jolianan,^  and  the  two  brothers, 
Bene  Zebedaiou,'-^  were  closely  attached  to 
liim  ;  eight  others,  expressly  selected  by 
him,  were  added  to  these.  It  was  not 
solely  a  sort  of  army  of  goodness  which  he 
created  in  order  that  immediately  after  liis 
death  the  budding  Church  should  be 
guided  according  to  his  Spirit,  and  the 
kingdom  continually  announced  ;  it  was  a 
new  and  unknown  institution  which  sud- 
denly appeared,  and  by  its  mere  existence 
consecrated  the  rupture  of  Jesus  with 
Judaism.     It  created  a  veritable  schism. 

Jesus  so  deeply  felt  the  gravity  of  the 
resolution  which  he  was  making,  that  he 
passed  the  night  in  prayer.^  It  was  on  a 
mountain  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the 
one  near  Nazareth  whither  for  so  many  years 
he  had  gone  to  adore  liis  Father  ;  it  over- 
looked Capernaum  and  the  entire  lake. 
During  long  hours  he  sought  to  know  the 
will  of  God,  setting  before  his  sight  his 
new  project,  his  fears,  his  hopes,  and  the 
choice  of  the  Twelve  which  he  was  about 
to  make. 

The  next  morning  he  designated  them 

1  Andrew  and  Peter.  ^  James  and  John. 

8  Luke  vi.  12. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  161 

and  gave  them  his  instructions.  The  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  has  preserved  to  us  some 
scattered  fragments  of  the  discourse  which 
he  addressed  to  them.  It  is  difficult  to 
find  in  this  collection  of  utterances,  which 
do  not  always  follow  logically,  the  clear 
echo  of  what  Jesus  must  have  said  to  them 
at  tliis  decisive  hour.  He  recommended 
to  them  humility,  gentleness,  graciousness. 
He  said  to  them  :  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth  ;  ye  are  the  light  of  the  world  ;  a 
city  set  upon  a  hill  cannot  be  hid."  ^  It 
was  necessary  for  them  to  become  "  chil- 
dren of  the  Father  wliich  is  in  heaven."  ^ 
He  preached  to  them  a  "  higher  righteous- 
ness," ^  and  said  to  them,  "  Be  ye  therefore 
perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  is  perfect."*  To  these  principles 
of  pure  morality,  placing  before  their  eyes 
for  goal  the  new  righteousness,  divine 
sonship,  perfection  itself,  Jesus  added 
neither  rite  nor  ride,  and  asked  of  the 
Twelve  no  practice.  Later  he  added  to 
these  first  precepts  a  short  prayer,^  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  Rabbis  of  that 

1  Matt.  V.  13  ff.  2  Matt.  v.  45. 

8  Matt.  V.  20.  4  Matt.  v.  48. 

6  Matt.  vi.  9  ff.  ;  Luke  xi.  1  ff. 
11 


162  JESUS  CHRIST 

time,  which  was  probably  to  be  recited  im- 
mediately after  the  Shema.  For  if  Jesus 
imposed  no  new  act  of  worsliip,  he  did  not 
abolish  those  of  which  the  Twelve  and  liim- 
self  had  long  had  the  habit;  and  if  he 
suppressed  fasts  and  ablutions,  he  always 
frequented  the  synagogue  and  recited  the 
customary  prayers. 

Jesus  also  gave  the  Twelve  special  in- 
structions. He  took  care  that  they  should 
always  know  the  hidden  meaning  of  the 
parables,  and  he  had  secrets  with  them 
wliich  they  were  never  to  communicate  to 
any  one. 

No  doubt  Jesus  preached  to  the  crowds 
and  was  understood  by  every  one.  Airs 
of  mystery  were  always  foreign  to  him,  and 
his  teaching  has  nothing  esoteric.  Yet 
there  are  certain  things  which  he  said  "  in 
the  darkness,"  and  "in  the  ear"  of  the 
Twelve.^  In  all  this  he  followed  the  doc- 
tors and  ^labbis  of  his  time.  The  parables 
themselves,  as  we  showed  when  speaking 
of  the  language  which  Jesus  made  use  of, 
were  in  some  degree  enigmatic.  If  they 
put  the   liighest  religious  verities   witliin 

1  Matt.  X.  26,  27  ;  Mark.  iv.  21  ff.  ;  Luke  viii.  17,  xii. 
2  ff.  ;  John  xiv.  22. 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  163 

reacli  of  the  humblest  and  the  common 
folk,  they  did  so  only  by  heightening 
their  curiosity,  without  always  gratifying 
it.  They  were  far  from  being  immedi- 
ately comprehensible;  sometimes  the  vul- 
gar did  not  immediately  seize  the  sense, 
and  Jesus,  who  wanted  the  Twelve  to  com- 
prehend this  always,  would  explain  the 
parables  to  them  in  detail  when  he  was 
alone  with  them.^ 

Finally  he  sent  them  out  two  by  two,  for 
he  still  desired  to  save  his  people  by  the 
word,  and  stir  up  a  religious  and  moral 
transformation  of  their  nation.  The  apos- 
tles were  to  divide  among  themselves  the 
twelve  tribes,  none  others  ;  their  whole 
mission  was  to  save  the  Jews:  it  is  the 
apostolate  of  the  circumcision,  as  St.  Paul 
called  it  at  a  later  time.^ 

The  Twelve  then  went  about  preaching 
during  the  lifetime  of  Jesus  ;  ^  they  con- 
fined themselves  to  announcing  the  ap- 
proaching coming  of  the  kingdom,*  repeated 
the    Master's    teachings,    and,    like    him, 

1  Matt.  xiii.  10  ff.,  34  ff.,  iv.  10  ff.,  33  ff.  ;  Luke  viii. 
9  ff.,  xii.  41. 

^  Gal.  ii.  7.  s  Luke  ix.  6. 

*  Matt.  X.  7  ;  Luke  x.  9. 


164  JESUS   CHRIST 

performed  cures.  Their  manners  and 
customs  were  purely  Essenian  ;  nowhere 
in  the  gospel  is  the  identity  of  budding 
Christianity  with  Essenism  more  strik- 
ing. All  the  counsels  as  to  conduct  which 
Jesus  gave  them  are  those  which  were  given 
to  Essenes  about  to  travel,  — *to  stop  at  the 
houses  of  brethren  only,  to  pronounce  the 
Selam,  or  greeting  of  peace,  on  entering, 
and  by  this  sign  to  recognize  true  friends. 
By  this  salutation  of  peace  they  themselves 
were  to  accept  hospitality.^  They  were 
to  carry  no  provisions,  no  change  of  gar- 
ments; a  single  tunic,  a  single  pair  of 
sandals,  was  to  suffice.  All  this  is  the 
purest  Essenism.  Let  them  go  neither 
to  the  Gentiles  nor  the  Samaritans;  let 
them  practise  medicine,  heal  the  sick, 
cast  out  demons,  cleanse  lepers,  and 
let  them  do  it  all  freely .^ 

In  the  view  of  Jesus  the  apostle  was  him- 
self ;  and  this  he  said  in  his  instructions 
to  the  Twelve.^  This  creation  of  the 
apostolate   therefore    proves    two   things  : 

1  Matt.  X.,  passim. 

2  Matt.  X.  8. 

«  Matt.  X.  40-42,  xxv.  35  f .  ;  Mark  ix.  40  ;  Luke  x. 
16  i  John  xiii.  20. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  165 

1.  The  desire  of  Jesus,  in  case  of  his  own 
disappearance,  to  remain  upon  the  earth 
in  the  person  of  authentic  representatives, 
charged  with  the  work  of  completing  those 
preparations  for  the  speedy  coming  of  tlie 
kingdom  which  were  to  be  interrupted 
by  his  death;  2.  The  desire  to  re-establish 
the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  when  the 
kingdom  should  appear. 

Therefore  Jesus  communicated  only  to 
the  Twelve  his  power  to  heal,  to  cast  out 
demons,  and  to  prophesy,^  —  that  is  to  say, 
his  entire  function  as  Rabbi. 

The  apostles'  methods  of  healing  were 
those  of  the  Essenes,  —  anointing  with 
oil  and  the  imposition  of  hands.  Their 
power  to  handle  venomous  serpents  and 
drink  poisoned  beverages  with  impunity 
is  also  mentioned;  but  the  passage  in  the 
Gospels  which  makes  this  statement  is 
certainly  apocryphal,^  and  such  jpowers 
were  attributed  to  them  only  at  a  later 
date.  It  is  even  evident  that  their  power 
to  heal  was  limited,  and  sometimes  attended 
with  want  of  success.  Certain  cases  of 
possession  were  too  difficult  for  them  ;  it 

1  Matt.  vii.  22,  x.  1  ;  Mark  iii.  15,  vi.  13  ;  Luke  x.  17. 

2  Mark  xvi.  18. 


166  JESUS   CHRIST 

sometimes  occurred  that  they  had  not  the 
needed  knowledge  and  were  unaware 
of  the  special  process  required  to  cast 
out  certain  kinds  of  demons.^  For  some 
of  these  prayer  was  indispensable,  and  also 
fasting. 

This  detail  shows  that  prayer  was  not 
always  essential  to  the  cure  of  a  possessed 
person,  and  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was 
sometimes  necessary  not  only  to  ask  God 
to  expel  the  evil  spirit,  but  also  to  prac- 
tise a  more  or  less  prolonged  fast,  —  a  thing 
which  Jesus  had  authorized  liis  disciples 
to  dispense  with  in  ordinary  life.^ 

Though  Jesus  communicated  to  his 
apostles  alone  the  power  to  heal  and  to 
exorcise,  it  was  the  case  that  others 
attempted  to  cast  out  demons  in  his  name 
without  even  being  his  disciples,  and  we 
are  not  told  that  they  did  not  succeed. 
When  the  fact  was  reported  to  Jesus,  he 
declared  its  authorization.^  In  fact,  all 
methods  were  used  for  delivering  those  un- 

1  Matt.  xvii.  19-21. 

2  We  have  already  alluded  to  this  passage,  and  said 
that  the  mention  of  fasting  in  Matt.  xxii.  2,  is  prob- 
ably unauthentic  (see  page  137). 

8  Mark  ix.  38  ff.  ;  Luke  ix.  40,  50. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  167 

fortunate  persons  who  were  possessed.  We 
have  seen  above  that  men  went  so  far  as 
to  invoke  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  infer- 
nal regions,  because,  being  the  devil,  he  had 
all  power  over  his  subordinates.  Thus  do 
superstitions  reproduce  themselves  always 
the  same,  and  the  most  ridiculous  inven- 
tions of  the  Middle  Age  were  already  in 
existence. 

Choosing  the  Twelve,  Jesus  founded  a 
church,  a  commmiity.  He  admirably 
understood  the  importance  of  action  in 
common,  its  enormous  power,  and  the 
invincible  strength  of  union  by  love. 

Tliis  church,  this  community  of  the 
Twelve  and  of  all  who  should  join  them, 
was  to  bind  and  loose;  that  is  to  say,  it 
would  have  the  right  to  permit  and  forbid, 
it  could  forgive  sins,  reprimand,  warn. 
But  Jesus  added  no  code  of  rules  to  these 
promises  and  privileges.  He  gave  no  indi- 
cations touching  assemblies  of  believers, 
and  prescribed  no  ceremonies  for  the  apos- 
tles to  celebrate.  Thus  the  primitive 
Church  was  to  be  instituted  on  the  model 
of  the  synagogue,  and  the  Twelve  had  no 
other  form  of  worship  than  the  worship  of 
their  fathers. 


168  JESUS   CHRIST 

This  is  easy  to  understand.  Jesus'  only 
care  was  to  assure  the  life  of  his  followers 
during  the  time  which  should  intervene 
between  his  death  and  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom,  since  it  was  possible  that  he 
might  die  before  the  kingdom  of  God 
should  come.  And  thus,  having  instituted 
the  apostolate,  he  confined  himself  to  giv- 
ing his  followers  general  instructions  :  he 
sent  them  only  to  the  Jews,  and  it  was 
enough  for  him  to  speak  such  words  as 
would  encourage  them  when  he  should  be 
no  longer  in  their  midst. 

They  would  find  their  first  consolation  in 
the  thought  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  with 
them.  When  he,  Jesus,  should  be  no 
longer  there,  the  Spirit  would  come,  and  it 
would  be  his  Spirit,  strengthening  his  own, 
for  he  would  be  always  present  with 
his  faithful  ones,  though  they  might  be 
only  two  or  three  gathered  together.^ 

Such  words  and  counsels  were  a  great 
source  of  strength  to  the  apostles  when 
at  a  later  day  they  recalled  them  to  mind. 
Jesus  had  predicted  truly,  it  was  the 
Spirit  of  God  which  filled  them  ;  never 
could  humanity  have   produced  by   itself 

i  Matt,  xviii.  20. 


DURING  niS  MINISTRY  169 

the  works  which  they  performed  ;  and 
the  supernatural  shines  forth  through  tlie 
whole  history  of  the  primitive  Church. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  there  is  no 
trace  of  the  ecclesiastical  Trinity  in  the 
teaching  of  Jesus,  as  there  is  indeed  no 
trace  of  theology  or  of  a  confession  of 
faith.  But  what  St.  Paul  said  at  a 
later  day  in  one  of  his  apostolic  saluta- 
tions,^  naming  successively  the  grace  of  the 
Heavenly  Father,  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
invoking  these  blessings  upon  his  readers, 
was  clearly  drawn  from  the  words  of  the 
Christ.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  a  separate 
personality  (it  should  be  needless  to  say 
this,  so  evident  is  it)  ;  it  is  himself,  Jesus, 
coming  back  into  the  hearts  of  his  disciples 
to  establish  his  kingdom  by  their  means. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  admit  that  Jesus 
was  acquainted  with  Jewish  theolog)^, 
which  made  of  the  Holy  Spirit  a  divine 
hypostasis,  and  identified  it  with  the  Word 
or  Wisdom; 2  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that 

1  2  Cor.  xiii.  13  ;  and  what  Jesus  himself  said  when 
he  instituted  baptism  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the 
Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.     Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20. 

2  Wisd.  Sol.  i.  7,  vii.  7,  ix.  17,  xii.  1  ;  Eccles.  i.  9j 
XV.  5,  xxiv.  27,  xxxix.  8;  Judith  xvi.  17. 


170  JESUS   CHRIST 

he  insisted  upon  the  Holy  Spirit,  not  only 
in  liis  teaching  as  the  fourth  Gospel 
gives  it,  but  also  in  that  of  the  first  three, 
"Blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Spirit,"  he 
said,  "  shall  never  be  forgiven."  ^  "  It  is 
not  ye  who  speak,  but  the  Holy  Spirit 
which  speaketh  for  you."  ^  "  The  Father 
giveth  the  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ;  "  ^ 
etc.  Such  passages  abound  ;  and  in  this 
there  is  nothing  surprising,  for  this  was  the 
point  in  Jewish  theology  to  which  at  that 
time  the  greatest  importance  was  attached. 
In  fact,  out  of  this  doctrine  issued  the 
great  question  of  the  relations  of  God 
with  the  world  or  Avith  intermediary  beings  ; 
and  John  the  Baptist  himself  had  already 
spoken  of  a  baptism  of  fire  and  of  the 
Spirit.* 

When  Jesus  announced  the  coming  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  he  gave  to  him  in  the  Syro- 
Chaldaic  tongue  a  name  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  ;  he  called  him  the  Paraclete.^ 
The  Jewish  -doctors  had  derived  this  word 

1  Matt.  xii.  31,  32  ;  Mark  iii.  29  ;  Luke  xii.  10. 

2  Mark  xiii.  11  ;  Luke  xii.  12. 
8  Luke  xi.  13. 

*  Matt.  iii.  11  ;  Mark  i.  8  ;  Luke  iii.  16  ;  John  i.  26, 
iii.  5  ;  Acts  i.  6,  8,  x.  47. 

*  See  Buxtorf,  Lex.  Talm. 


DURING  ni  S  MINISTRY  171 

from  the  Greek  paraMetos,  which  signifies 
advocate,  counsellor,  doctor  who  explains 
hidden  mysteries.  The  Paraclete  was  so 
little  a  distinct  personality  that  Jesus 
liimself  is  thus  called.^  The  Spirit,  the 
Paraclete,  was  to  replace  him  ;  and  this 
would  be  his  Spirit,  it  would  be  himself.^ 

As  to  a  book  to  which  should  be  com- 
mitted his  teachings,  Jesus  never  spoke  of 
such  a  thing.  We  have  explained  why 
such  a  book  was  far  from  his  thought.^ 
He  had  come  to  fulfil  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,  and  not  in  the  least  to  publish 
texts  to  be  added  to  those  of  the  Old 
Testament. 

Finally,  he  instituted  two  ceremonies,  — 
Baptism  and  the  Eucharist.*  We  must 
reserve  this  subject  for  our  third  volume. 
But  a  word  must  be  said  here  concerning 
the  meals  which  he  took  in  common  with 
the  apostles,  and  with  them  alone.  We 
believe  that  long  before  the  institution  of 

1  1  John  ii.  1.  2  John  xiv.  18. 

^  See  chapter  ii.,  "  The  Language  of  Jesus,"  page 
69  ff. 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  Jesus,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  interdictions  like  that  of  the  oath  (Matt.  v.  34), 
or  of  divorce  (xix.  3  f.),  never  laid  down  a  single  rule 
to  be  followed. 


172  JESUS  CHRIST 

the  Eucharist,  which  was  established  only 
on  the  last  day,  Jesus  used  to  partake 
with  the  apostles  of  a  meal  which  had  a 
sacred  character.  The  Pharisees  had  a 
habit  of  fraternal  agape^  with  complete 
ablutions  before  and  afterward,  the  bene- 
diction of  each  dish,  and  conversation  on 
religious  subjects  ;  and  it  is  highly  possible 
that  the  feasts  to  which  Jesus  was  invited 
at  their  houses  were  of  this  character.^ 

However  this  may  be,  there  is  more 
than  one  resemblance  between  the  frater- 
nal feasts  of  the  Pharisees,  who  had  insti- 
tuted fixed  days  on  which  the  brotherhood 
should  assemble  to  take  a  meal  together, 
and  the  agapœ  of  the  early  Christians.  The 
brethren  celebrated  those  agapcc  as  a  sign 
of  union.  It  is  therefore  more  than  prob- 
able that  when  in  the  course  of  his  minis- 
try Jesus  presided  at  the  table  around 
which  were  grouped  the  Twelve,  he  gave 
a  special  character  to  the  gathering.  We 
see  him  in  '  St.  John,  a  year  before  the 
institution  of  the  Eucharist,^  comparing 
himself  to  bread  which  nourishes  and 
gives  life  ;   and,  according  to  certain  pas- 

1  Luke  V.  29,  vii.  36,  xi.  37,  xiv.  1  ff. 
a  John  vi.  35  ff. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  173 

sages,  he  had  a  habit  of  breaking  the  bread 
at  the  beginning  of  a  meal,  giving  the 
pieces  to  his  disciples  with  a  prayer  of 
thanksgiving.  The  gesture  wliich  he 
usually  made  at  such  moments  was  pecu- 
liar to  him.  It  might  aid  in  his  recogni- 
tion,i  and  the  apostles  kept  in  their  minds 
and  their  hearts  the  memory  of  the  solemn 
moment  of  "the  breaking  of  bread"  by 
their  Master  ;  in  the  meal  which  he  took 
with  his  own  it  was  a  sacred  moment  with 
a  religious  character.  For  that  matter,  to 
eat  of  the  same  loaf  was  always,  for  the 
Jew,  a  bond  of  union  and  intimacy.  A 
son  of  Israel  did  not  sit  down  at  the  table 
of  a  Gentile,  precisely  because  such  an  act 
presupposed  an  entire  community  of  feel- 
ings and  ideas  ;  and  it  is  to  be  understood 
how  Jesus,  who  loved  this  common  meal, 
who  at  such  moments  felt  himself  most 
near  to  his  own  and  most  closely  united  to 
them,  must,  at  the  moment  of  parting  from 
the  apostles,  have  felt  the  need  of  institut- 
ing a  ceremony,  a  sacred  supper,  which 
would  recall  to  their  minds  those  which 
they  had  been  used  to  take  together,  and 
which  would  perpetuate  his  mystic  pres- 

^  Luke  xxiv.  31. 


174  JESUS  CHRIST 

ence,  since  by  the  Holy  Spirit  he  would 
be  always  in  their  midst. 

Jesus  must  have  felt  all  the  more  the 
need  of  drawing  near  to  his  apostles  and 
living  with  them  in  close  intimacy,  in 
proportion  as  the  rupture  with  Judaism 
was  drawing  daily  nearer  to  its  consum- 
mation. 

This  rupture  was  destined  soon  to  have 
an  important  result.  Jesus  was  to  become 
unsectarian.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  not 
been  so.  He  had  spoken  of  Gentiles  as 
strangers,  and  when  he  had  sent  the  Twelve 
forth  upon  their  mission,  he  had  said,  "  Go 
not  to  the  Gentiles  nor  to  the  Samaritans." 
Not  long  after  he  used  entirely  different 
language,  going  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
Gentiles  would  pass  into  the  kingdom  be- 
fore the  Jews  ;  ^  that  the  vineyard  destined 
for  the  children  of  Israel  should  be  given 
to  others,^  and  in  one  of  his  parables 
clearly  designating  the  Jews,  he  makes  the 
king,  who  represents  God  himself,  say, 
"  None  of  those  who  were  bidden  shall  taste 
of  my  supper."  ^ 

These  were  new  words,  and  they  reveal 

1  Luke  XV.  24  f.  2  Matt.  xxi.  24,  etc. 

'  Luke  xiv.  24. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  176 

long  and  painful  experiences.  We  are  far 
now  from  the  early  time,  far  from  the  first 
preaching  on  the  Lake  and  on  the  Mount. 
Opposition  —  a  formidable  opposition  — 
had  burst  out  under  the  pressure  of  events. 
Now  the  impatience  of  the  people  is,  in  its 
turn,  precipitating  these  events.  Although 
the  change  of  hearts  has  not  yet  been 
brought  about,  Jesus  makes  it  understood 
that  he  is  indeed  the  Messiah,  and  his  peo- 
ple, who  are  in  no  condition  to  understand 
the  austere  spirituality  of  his  Messianism, 
will  follow  the  Pharisees'  example  in  part- 
ing from  him.  Jesus  had  already  done 
everything  to  retard  his  rupture  with  the 
latter.  He  had  hoped  to  avoid  it,  and 
when  it  took  place  he  had  faced  all  its 
consequences  in  creating  the  apostolate. 
It  was  thus  that,  with  admirable  energy,  a 
conviction  and  assurance  which  nothing 
could  shake,  he  prepared  for  the  future, 
for  what  he  called  "the  hour  of  the 
Father,"  awaiting  it  with  confidence,  what- 
ever might  be  the  sacrifice  which  the 
Father  was  to  ask  of  him. 

Thus,  in  his  days  of  endurance,  of  care 
and  renunciation,  the  Twelve  were  for 
him  a  hope  and  consolation.      When  he 


176  JESUS    CHRIST 

thouglit  of  them,  he  thrilled  with  joy,^  he 
commended  them  to  his  Father,  he  thanked 
him  for  having  given  him  these  "  children," 
who  knew  more  than  the  "  wise  and  pru- 
dent ;  "  and  when  they  told  him  of  their 
success,  when  they  said,  "Even  the  de- 
mons are  subject  to  us,"  ^  —  that  is,  we  have 
succeeded  even  in  exorcisms,  then,  indeed, 
he  saw  in  advance  all  the  victories  that 
were  to  be  gained,  —  evil  forever  van- 
quished, and  Satan  overthrown  appeared  to 
him,  like  a  vision  created  by  his  unfalter- 
ing optimism,  as  if  falling  from  heaven  and 
disappearing  like  a  flash  of  lightning.^ 

1  Luke  X.  21.        a  Luke  x.  17.         8  Luke  x.  19. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  17, 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   SUIVOIER   OF   THE   YEAR   29* 

JESUS  was  full  of  these  thoughts  when 
the  entirely  unexpected  news  of  the 
death  of  John  the  Baptist  suddenly  sur- 
prised liim. 

Up  to  this  time,  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
which  he  was  arousing  and  the  plots  which 
were  being  formed  against  him,  in  spite  of 
the  delays  to  which  the  apparition  of  the 
kingdom  seemed  to  be  obliged  to  submit, 
he  had  remained  in  Galilee,  not,  doubtless, 
without  solicitude,  but  expecting  the  hour 
of  the  Father  and  pursuing  his  work.    The 

1  "We  do  not  insist  upon  the  figure  29.  The  pre- 
cision of  the  chronological  researches  which  lead  us 
to  adopt  it  makes  it  seem  probable  ;  but  at  such  a  dis- 
tance from  the  events,  and  with  the  imperfections  of 
the  calendar  of  the  ancient  Jews,  nothing  is  certain. 
The  essential  thing  is  that  we  are  here  concerned  with 
the  last  year  before  the  death  of  Jesus.  It  can  be  the 
year  29  only  if  Jesus  died  in  the  year  30. 
12 


178  JESUS  CHRIST 

death  of  John,  so  premature,  so  unexpected, 
accompanied  by  such  horrible  details,  came 
home  to  him  as  a  solemn  warning.  The 
possibility  of  a  tragic  and  unexpected  end 
was  not  then  a  chimera  ;  he  also  might  dis- 
appear and  in  the  same  way.  Herod  began 
to  appear  formidable. 

A  few  trusty  and  faithful  friends  whom 
he  had  kept  among  the  Pharisees  came  at 
that  very  juncture  to  inform  him  of  certain 
things  said  by  the  Tetrarch  about  him. 
Antipas,  hearing  reports  of  Jesus  and  his 
popularity,  had  said,  "  This  Jesus  is  John 
the  Baptist  risen  from  the  dead."  Now,  he 
who  had  thus  spoken  was  very  powerful, 
and  he  was  at  Tiberias,  whither  indeed 
Jesus  never  went,  but  which  was  not  far 
from  Capernaum.^  There  was,  then,  reason 
to  reckon  with  this  dangerous  neighbor. 
No  doubt  Herod,  as  unstable  as  vindictive, 
would  not  long  think  that  this  was  John 
risen  from  the  dead.  But  he  had  spies, 
sworn  friends,  certain  individuals  called 
the  Herodians  ;  ^  and  Jesus  learned  that 
these  Herodians  had  had  interviews  with 
certain  decidedly  hostile  Pharisees,  on  the 

1  Matt.  xiv.  1  ff.  ;  Mark  vi.  14  ff.  ;  Luke  ix.  7  ff. 

2  Mark  iii.  6,  xii.  13  ;  Matt.  xxii.  16. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  179 

subject  of  himself.  They  had  come  to 
an  understanding,  sometliing  was  being 
plotted;  and,  instructed  by  these  various 
events,  he  formed  a  new  resolution. 

First  of  all,  he  decided  that  he  would  no 
longer  preach  in  the  synagogues.  Then  he 
gave  up  his  Capernaum  home,  only  once 
again  to  occupy  it  for  a  few  days  or  even 
hours,  as  he  passed  tln-ough  the  city.  From 
that  time  he  was  to  have  no  settled  abode,^ 
and  he  began  a  wandering  ministry,  a  life 
of  continual  journeyings,  concerning  wliich 
we  have  no  exact  information.  He  went 
fust  toward  the  northern  frontier.  It  was 
a  wise  precaution.  Phoenicia  could  offer 
him  at  need  a  seciu-e  retreat.  He  was  also 
fond  of  visiting  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
lake  ;  it  was  a  nearly  desert  country,  over 
which  Antipas  had  no  jurisdiction,  and  the 
Decapolis  in  its  turn  might  prove  to  Jesus 
a  secure  and  peaceful  shelter. 

One  day,  just  when  he  had  taken  refuge 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake,  the  people 
came  in  crowds  to  find  him. 

It  was  to  be  his  last  day  of  popularity, 
and  one  of  the  days  in  which  he  shoAved 
himself  the  greatest.  The  people,  who 
1  Matt.  viii.  20  ;  Liike  ix.  58. 


180  JESUS  CHRIST 

detested  Herod,  proclaimed  Jesus  their 
Messiah,  and  assigned  to  him  royal  honor. 
What,  then,  took  place  in  his  soul  ?  To  be 
King!  To  be  the  national  Messiah  and 
acclaimed  as  such  !  It  was  all  that  he  had 
hoped,  all  that  he  had  asked.  Was,  then, 
the  work  of  preparation  which  he  had  be- 
gun drawing  to  its  close?  No,  for  the 
kingdom  ought  fii'st  to  come.  He  was  the 
Messiali,  but  he  was  to  remain  humble  and 
hidden,  and  confine  himself  to  a  work  of 
preparation,  so  long  as  the  kingdom  had 
not  yet  appeared.  If  Jesus  had  let  the 
people  have  their  way,  it  would  have  been 
a  revolt,  an  armed  insurrection,  —  a  second 
such  experiment  as  that  of  Judas  the  Gau- 
lonite,  all  that  he  had  before  refused  at 
the  temptation.  And  so  he  retired  to 
the  mountain,  and  passed  the  night  in 
prayer.^ 

On  the  morrow,  more  than  ever  decided, 
he  spoke  for  the  last  time  in  the  synagogue 
of  Capernaum.  Making  use  of  the  symbol 
of  the  bread,  which  no  doubt  he  had  ah-eady 
explained  to  the  Twelve,  he  spoke  of  eating 
his  flesh  and  drinking  his  blood  ;  he  prom- 
ised to  satisfy  the  hunger  and  thirst  of 
1  John  vi.  16  £E. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  181 

those  who  came  to  him.  These  expressions, 
being  misunderstood,  produced  a  revulsion 
of  feeling  in  his  hearers,  and  a  crisis  de- 
clared itself,  —  a  formidable  crisis,  in  which 
the  opposition  of  the  people  was  in  its  turn 
made  manifest,  joining  with  that  of  the 
Pharisees. 

As  for  him,  he  followed  his  thought  to 
the  end.  It  was  a  new  thought,  and  had 
taken  so  much  the  more  hold  upon  him  ; 
and,  full  in  the  sight  of  a  violent  death, 
which  might  be  its  consequence,  he  drew 
the  comparison  of  the  bread  broken  and 
the  wine  poured  out.  Before  eating  bread 
one  breaks  it,  before  drinking  wine  one 
pours  it  out;  and  thus  he  completed  the 
figure  he  had  already  employed,  finding  in  it 
a  figure  of  his  death.  At  this  moment,  with- 
out doubt,  he  had  the  first  thoudit  of  a 
ceremony  commemorating  his  death,  if  in- 
deed it  should  be  at  hand  and  was  to  be 
by  violence. 

The  people  refused  to  hear  Jesus  to  the 
end;  that  took  place  in  their  minds  which 
always  takes  place  among  the  populace 
when  hopes  have  been  awakened  in  them 
and  not  satisfied.  To  popularity  succeeds 
desertion,  to  enthusiasm  hatred.     Tlie  peo- 


182  JESUS  CHRIST 

pie  have  these  sudden  changes  of  mood; 
the  multitudes  accuse  those  whom  they 
have  worshipped  of  having  betrayed  and 
deceived  them.  To  avoid  this  crisis,  Jesus 
must  needs  have  met  them  half-way,  per- 
mitted them  to  name  him  king  ;  but  he 
could  not.  The  hopes  which  he  had  awak- 
ened rested  upon  a  misunderstanding  ;  the 
misunderstanding  was  bound  to  come  to 
light  sooner  or  later,  and  on  this  day  the 
inevitable  rupture  took  place.  The  dis- 
aj)pointed  multitude  abandoned  Jesus  for 
always. 

He  was  not  for  a  moment  shaken,  and 
yet  what  a  pang  and  what  a  warning  I 
He  had  not  succeeded  in  Galilee  ;  but  in 
that  case  would  he  succeed  elsewhere  ?  It 
seemed  impossible,  and  that  is  why  he 
spoke  of  the  broken  flesh  and  the  poured- 
out  blood  ;  and  yet  who  could  tell  ?  Suc- 
cess might  even  yet  be  achieved  without 
death.  He  desired  it,  he  hoped  for  it,  he 
asked  it  of  «God  ;  he  continued  to  hope  and 
to  ask  even  in  Gethsemane.  But  whatever 
might  be  the  future,  that  which  would 
happen  would  be  the  Father's  will.  He 
should  therefore  be  victorious;  and  even 
though  he  were  to  be  overtaken  by  a  most 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  183 

atrocious  and  ignominious  death,  still  in 
defeat  lie  would  be  victorious.  Even  in 
death,  even  in  martyrdom,  victory  would 
lie  concealed.  Pie  did  not  know  how,  but 
God  was  his  Father,  and  God  could  not  be 
defeated  ;  liis  cause  and  that  of  liis  Father 
were  the  self-same  cause. 

All  these  new  ideas  arose  in  Jesus'  mind, 
crowding  on  one  another,  succeeding  one 
another,  and  in  perfect  accord.  He  was 
convinced  that  he  was  to  abolish  the  Law 
of  Moses  and  establish  the  reign  of  God. 
The  thought  presented  itself  to  him  that 
he  might  be  the  victim  of  its  establishment 
and  of  the  accomplishment  of  a  work  so 
different  from  that  which  the  people  were 
expecting.  But  must  not  the  kingdom  be 
established  by  violence,  by  disturbance  ?  ^ 
Then  there  would  be  nothing  surprising  in 
anything  that  he  might  have  to  suiïer  ;  and 
if  he  were  to  die,  so  be  it  !  He  would  re- 
turn accompanied  by  legions  of  angels,  and 
then  he  would  found  the  kingfdom. 

At  the  same  time  his  ideal  became  that 
of  universality.  His  rupture  with  the 
Pharisees  completed  this  enlargement  of 
his   ideal.     He  declared  that  since   John 

1  Matt.  XX.  12  ;  Luke  xvi.  16. 


184  JESUS   C HEIST 

the  Baptist,  the  Law  was  no  longer  in  ex- 
istence.^ The  true  import  of  his  words 
"  destroy  not,  fulfil,"  appeared  to  him  anew. 
He  had  already  said  that  new  stuff  should 
not  be  sewed  to  the  old,  nor  new  wine  put 
into  old  wine-skins  ;  here,  certainly,  was  a 
new  notion,  a  creative  act.  Every  man  of 
good  will  was  a  son  of  Abraham,^  and  the 
Law  was  made  only  for  the  sons  of  Abra- 
ham according  to  the  flesh.  All  men  were 
called  to  be  sons  of  God;  he  was  calling 
man,  not  the  Jew  ;  he  was  preaching  the  re- 
,ligion,  the  rights,  the  salvation  of  human- 
ity, and  not  those  of  the  Jew.  Mosaism 
had  lived  ;  it  had  now  only  to  disappear. 

Thus  the  most  deeply  rooted  of  Jewish 
prejudices  disappeared,  and  forever,  from 
Jesus'  thought.  Certainly  he  had  lost  the 
Jewish   faith.^     A    magnificent    prospect 

1  Luke  xvi.  16  ;  Matt.  xi.  6-13,  ix.  16-17  ;  Luke  v. 
36  f. 

2  Luke  xix.  9. 

8  It  must  not  be  forgotten  here  that  the  apostles 
for  the  most  part  remained  very  closely  attached  to 
Judaism,  and  that  they  never  became  aware  how  far 
their  Master  had  gone.  They  believed  him  to  have 
remained  more  a  Jew  than  was  the  case.  In  his  trial 
Jesus  was  accused  of  sedition,  and  the  Talmudic 
meaning  of  this  word  is  very  clear.  Those  were 
called  seditious  who  overturned  the  Law  of  Moses. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  185 

opened  out  before  his  thought:  all  men 
were  equal,  all  were  brothers;  Gentiles 
also,  even  Samaritans  !  —  the  kingdom 
would  also  be  for  them  ! 

That  which  completed  the  enlighten- 
ment of  Jesus  on  this  subject  was  his 
journeyings  in  heathen  lands.  To  see  the 
"  Goïm,"  to  visit  their  home,  was  a  reve- 
lation to  liim.  Up  to  this  time  he  had 
seldom  seen  them,  and  had  known  little 
of  them.  In  Galilee,  only  Tiberias  was  a 
Gentile  city  ;  and  Jesus  never  went  there, 
precisely  because  it  was  not  the  custom  to 
visit  Gentile  cities.  But  at  last  he  had 
gone  to  Tyre  and  Sidon;  he  had  seen 
temples  consecrated  to  idols  and  an  organ- 
ized worship  ;  in  these  two  cities  he  had 
found  himself  in  the  very  midst  of  pagan- 
ism, and  it  was  there  that  he  completed 
his  detachment  from  the  opinion  wliich 
excluded  Gentiles  from  the  kingdom. 

His  interview  with  the  Canaanitish 
woman  ^  marks  the  end  of  his  former  ideas 
about  Gentiles.     When  this  woman  asked 

(Jerus.  Sanh.  14,  16;  Babyl.  Sank.  43  a  and  67  a.)  In 
these  passages  the  Talmuds  speak  of  Jesus,  and  de- 
scribe the  form  of  procedure  against  him.  He  had 
been  deemed  seditious. 

1  Matt.  XV.  21-28;  Mark  vii.  24-30. 


186  J£SUS   CHRIST 

him  to  heal  her  daughter,  he  said,  "  I  am 
not  sent  save  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel."  It  was  just  what  he  had 
already  said  to  his  apostles,  "  Go  not  into 
any  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  enter  not 
into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  ;  "  and  a 
moment  later,  when  the  Canaanitish  woman 
insisted,  he  declared,  "It  is  not  meet  to 
take  the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  the 
dogs."  The  cliildren  were  the  Jews,  and 
they  alone  ;  the  dogs  were  the  Gentiles. 
And  behold  it  was  at  that  very  moment 
that  he  was  conquered  by  the  faith  of  the 
sorrowful  woman  who  was  imploring  him 
to  save  her  child.  Light  rose  upon  him  ; 
he  declared  that  he  had  not  found  such 
faith  even  among  his  own  people.  From 
that  day  he  entered  upon  a  universal 
work;  he  did  this  in  the  most  absolute 
sense,  and  this  was  a  new  notion,  a  creative 
act. 

He  had  some  other  contact  with  Gen- 
tiles. A  few  weeks  later  at  Csesarea 
Philippi,  during  another  of  those  excur- 
sions commanded  by  prudence  which 
carried  him  beyond  the  reach  of  Antipas 
and  the  Herodians,  he  saw  a  marble  tem- 
ple  erected   to   Augustus    by   Herod   the 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  187 

Great,  and  statues  of  the  god  Pan  with 
his  nymphs. 

But  before  these  statues  the  Jew  was 
very  much  like  the  Mussuhnan  to-day 
in  polytheistic  countries  ;  he  is  closed  to 
impressions,  it  seems  as  if  he  were  blind. 
So  the  rigorous  monotheism  of  the  son  of 
Israel  took  from  him  all  capacity  of  under- 
standing paganism. 

It  is  indeed  remarkable  that  Jesus  never 
spoke  of  idolatry  or  of  paganism  in  order 
to  directly  condemn  either,  as  did  the 
Jews  of  liis  time  who  declaimed  against 
idolaters.^ 

What  especially  impressed  him  was  the 
political  subjection  of  the  Gentiles.  The 
Jew's  sole  master  was  God.  Must  he 
serve  other  masters  on  earth?  Jesus 
had  heard  this  great  question  agitated  all 
around  him  ever  since  his  childliood,  and 
he  knew  that  Judas  the  Gaulonite  and 
others  had  taken  it  seriously  and  had 
revolted.  He  was  firmly  of  the  opinion 
that  in  one  sense  God  alone  is  master,  and 
he  condemned  the  deceitful  servility  of 
the  Gentiles,  which  betrayed  itself  by  the 

1  See  "  Wisdom,"  xiii.  ff.  In  this  book  we  have  a 
model  of  pedantic  and  unintelligent  condemnation. 


188  JESUS   CHRIST 

titles  that  they  gave  their  sovereigns  ;  ^ 
nevertheless  he  saw  in  them  brothers,  also 
called  to  the  kingdom,  and  to  whom  he 
from  this  time  said  the  kingdom  was  to 
be  transferred.^ 

Upon  universal  brotherhood  he  founded 
his  absolute  non-sectarianism.  The  concep- 
tion of  a  universal  worship  became  his,  and 
henceforth  no  barrier  could  separate  him 
from  the  nations.^  We  have  already 
alluded  to  the  parables  of  this  period,  — 
the  vineyard  leased  to  others,^  the  prodi- 
gal son  returning  home,  the  servants  going 
out  into  the  highways  to  seek  for  the  lost, 
and  none  of  the  first  invited  guests  who 
made  excuse  permitted  to  taste  of  the 
prepared  supper.  The  kingdom,  which 
was  still  to  come,  would  be  given  up  to 
the  Gentiles.  "  Many  should  come  from 
the  east  and  the  west,"  and  should  enter 
the  Messianic  banquet-hall.  The  Jews 
would  be  shut  out.  Jesus  did  not  say 
merely  "  the  Gentiles  too,"  he  did  not  even 

*  Mark  x.  42  ;  Luke  xxii.  25. 
2  Matt.  xxi.  43. 

8  Matt.  viii.  5  f .,  xv.  22  f.  ;  Mark  vii.  25  f.  ;  Luke  ir. 
25  f. 

*  Matt.  xxi.  41  ;  Mark  xii.  9  ;  Luke  xx.  16. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  189 

say  "  the  Gentiles  first  ;  "  he  went  so  far  as 
to  say  "the  Gentiles  only." 

Let  us  not  suppose  that  such  a  question 
was  entirely  new.  Though  the  travels  of 
Jesus  in  pagan  countries  definitely  com- 
pleted his  emancipation  from  sectarianism, 
though  his  interview  with  the  Canaanitish 
woman,  in  Avhich  he  used  the  most  abso- 
lutely particularist  terms,  completed  the 
opening  of  his  eyes,  he  had  for  a  long  time, 
since  the  beginning  of  his  ministry,  been 
logically  drawn  toward  catholicity.  The 
very  fact  that  he  preached  a  change  of  heart, 
conversion  to  God,  and  nothing  else,  threw 
down  the  barriers  which  separated  him 
from  the  nations.  If  an  interior  change 
sufficed,  if  to  belong  to  the  Jewish  race 
was  not  necessary,  why  were  not  Gentiles 
called  too?  Jews  had  first  been  called 
because  they  were  the  chosen  people  ;  and 
when  he  had  told  the  disciples  to  go  and 
preach  only  to  the  children  of  Israel,  it  was 
because  they  had  the  rights  of  the  oldest 
son;  but  he  had  long  since  said  the  field 
is  the  world,^  clearly  showing  that  he  made 
no  difference  between  peoples.^ 

1  Matt.  xiii.  38. 

«  Matt.  viii.  11,  12  ;  xxv.  31-34. 


190  JESUS   CHRIST 

He  was  also  prepared  for  catholicity  by 
his  conviction  that  God  is  the  God  of  hu- 
manity, and  not  the  special  God  of  Israel 
alone.  This  God,  who  is  not  a  fatal  being, 
killing,  damning,  and  saving  at  his  own 
pleasure,  —  this  God,  who  is  the  Father,  is 
universal.  Though  Jesus  understood  the 
Maccabees  and  Judas  the  Gaulonite,  he 
took  a  stand  high  above  them.  Judas  the 
Gaulonite  had  said,  God  alone  is  Master; 
one  must  die  rather  than  call  any  one  Mas- 
ter on  earth.  The  kings  of  earth,  the 
powerful,  the  great,  are  masters,  and  must 
be  respected  ;  but  each  one  has  his  Father 
in  heaven,  and  may  feel  himself  to  be  his 
child  on  the  earth  ;  men  are  all  brothers. 
Gentiles  also  are  sons  of  the  Father  who 
is  in  heaven. 

Furthermore,  if  with  Jesus  there  is  much 
that  is  new,  there  is  still  nothing  unex- 
pected, nothing  which  had  not  been  pre- 
pared for  long  before  ;  not  only  did  he  draw 
the  universality  of  the  second  part  of  his 
ministry  from  the  depths  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness, —  and  we  may  find  its  origin  in 
his  first  words,  —  it  still  came  from  tlie 
Old  Testament,  All  the  roots  of  this  prog- 
ress were  in  the  past  ;   from  the  time  of 


DURING  BIS  MINISTRY  191 

the  prophets  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles 
was  one  of  the  works  of  the  Messiah  and 
one  of  the  signs  of  his  coming.^  Only 
Jesus  had  placed  tlie  conversion  of  the 
Gentiles  in  the  future,  and  all  his  life  he 
had  maintained  that  the  Jews  alone  were 
to  be  evangelized  by  the   apostles.^ 

His  ideas  about  the  Samaritans  had  al- 
ways been  very  liberal  ;  on  this  subject  he 
had  early  entirely  parted  company  with 
his  people.  The  hatred  of  Jews  for  Samar- 
itans sui'passed  that  which  they  manifested 
to  the  Gentiles;  they  abhorred  them. 
Jesus,  on  the  contrary,  had  always  been 
well  disposed  toward  them.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  there  was  in  his  mind  a  very 
distinct  impulse  toward  reaction.  The 
parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  is  very 
clear. 

According  to  this  paraljle  the  neighbor 
is  any  man,  even  a  Samaritan.  So  Jesus 
had  thought  as  he  was  going  up  to  Jeru- 
salem or  as  he  was  returning  by  way  of 
Samaria. 

1  Isa.  ii.2ff.,  Ix.;  Amos  ix.  11  ff.;  Jer.  iii.  17;  Mai. 
i.  1  ;  Tobias  xiii.  13  f.  ;  Syh.  Orac.  iii.  715,  etc.  ;  cf. 
Matt.  xxiv.  14  ;  Acts  xv.  15  ff. 

2  Matt.  vii.  G  ;  x.  5,  6  ;  xv.  24. 


192  JESUS    CHRIST 

One  clay,  especially,  when  lie  stopped 
for  a  few  minutes  to  rest  himself  beside 
Jacob's  Well,  he  had  had  an  interview 
with  a  woman  of  the  country  which  made 
a  mark  upon  his  life.  To  speak  to  her 
was  already  to  give  a  proof  of  his  liberal- 
ity ;  but  the  expressions  of  which  he  made 
use  clearly  showed  that  the  tendency  to 
catholicity,  which  grew  more  marked  in 
the  middle  of  his  ministry,  and  when  he 
came  in  contact  with  Gentiles,  had  already 
been  long  latent  in  his  soul. 

For  many  years  Jesus  had  thus  been 
embracing  in  thought  the  whole  world,  of 
which  God  was  the  Father,  and  believing 
that  there  was  only  one  worship,  belonging 
neither  to  time  nor  to  country,  —  the  wor- 
ship of  God  the  Spirit,  who  wills  that  they 
who  worship  him  should  worship  liim  in 
spirit  and  in  truth.^ 

Such  were  the  thoughts  which  were 
pressing  upon  the  heart  of  Jesus  during 
the  few  months  of  the  summer  of  29. 

He  wandered  here  and  there,  desiring  to 

escape  from  his  enemies,  and  at  the  same 

time  seeking  to  know  the  Father's  will  and 

awaiting  his   hour.     Resolved   to  set  out 

1  John  iv.  23,  24. 


DURING  TITS  MINISTRY  193 

for  Judea,  to  go  even  to  Jerusalem  and 
manifest  himself  to  the  world,  he  yet  re- 
mained a  few  weeks  longer  in  the  northern 
countries,  for  he  had  important  communi- 
cations to  make  to  his  apostles.  From  tliis 
time  he  had  nothing  to  conceal  from  them, 
and  he  knew  that  his  Messiahship  was  no 
longer  a  mystery  to  them. 

One  day,  therefore,  he  led  them  on  the 
road  to  Ctesarea  of  Philip,  a  brother  of 
Antipas,  from  whom  he  knew  he  had 
nothing  to  fear. 

After  having  followed  for  a  wliile  the 
hanks  of  the  Jordan  and  crossed  great 
marshes,  the  Master  and  his  disciples 
quitted  the  stream  and  climbed  the  gentle 
acclivities  of  the  momitains  which  close 
the  valley  of  the  upper  Jordan  at  the  east. 
Little  by  little  they  thus  quitted  the  land 
of  Israel,  and  entered  the  territory  of  the 
Gentiles.  There  Jesus  was  unknown,  he 
felt  himself  in  a  foreign  land;  and  alone 
with  the  Twelve,  his  intimacy  with  them 
became  more  close.  He  drew  forth  Peter's 
confession  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God,"  ^  and  immediately  after 
revealed  to   them   the   secret  which  was 

1  Matt.  xvi.  16. 
13 


194  JESUS   CHRIST 

weighing  on  liis  soul,  —  he  must  die  soon 
and  by  a  violent  death.  He  was  to  go  up 
to  Jerusalem,  and  there  he  would  be  con- 
demned to  death.  He  foresaw  it,  an- 
nounced it,  maintained  it  ;  then  at  other 
moments  he  hoped  that  it  might  not  be 
thus,  that  his  people  would  recognize  him. 
Ah  !  if  Jerusalem  welcomed  him,  he  would 
found  the  kingdom  and  would  not  be  put 
to  death  ! 

Nevertheless,  it  was  time  to  set  out. 

This  resolution  to  depart  for  Judea 
was  one  of  the  grandest  which  Jesus  took. 
Doubtless  no  other  issue  was  open  to  him  ; 
but  he  had  willed  it  thus,  and  what  he 
now  decided  was  to  make  of  his  death,  if 
death  was  inevitable,  the  greatest  act  of 
his  mission. 

He  was  more  sure  than  ever  of  the  com- 
ing of  the  kingdom.  He  always  announced 
it  as  near,  and  declared  that  some  of  those 
who  were  gathered  round  him  would  not 
die  until»  they  had  seen  him  coming  with 
his  kingdom  or  in  his  kingdom.^  At  a 
later  time  he  declared  to  Peter  —  so  certain 
was  he  of  the  near  appearance  of  the  king- 

1  Matt.  xvi.  28,  x.  23,  xxiv.  34  ;  Mark  ix.  1  ;  Luke 
ix.  29. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  195 

dom  —  that  he  should  have  a  public  and 
brilliant  recompense  in  this  world  and  still 
another  in  the  age  to  come.^  The  kingdom 
was  then,  in  the  mind  of  Jesus,  both  always 
future  and  always  near.  Foreknowledge 
of  his  death  changed  nothing  of  this  ;  and 
still  later,  when  he  spoke  of  the  cup  which 
he  was  to  drink  and  the  baptism  of  blood 
which  he  was  to  receive,  that  is,  when  he 
predicted  the  near  approach  of  a  violent 
death,  he  still  could  tell  the  sons  of  Zebe- 
dee  that  they  might  be  seated  on  his  right 
hand,  have  the  two  highest  places,  when  he 
should  come  in  his  glory  surrounded  with 
angels,  and  that  the  Twelve  should  sit 
upon  twelve  thrones.^  It  was  not  he  who 
was  to  allot  them  places,  it  was  his  Father  ; 
but  he  denied  neither  the  approaching  tri- 
umph, nor  the  reality  of  the  assizes  of  the 
apostles  and  of  the  approaching  judg- 
ment, and  tliis  in  spite  of  his  death,  at  the 
very  hour  in  which  he  announced  it  as  cer- 
tain. The  latter,  in  fact,  would  be  only 
an  event,  an  accident  in  some  sort,  an  act 
willed  by  the  Father,  no  doubt,  and  having 

1  Mark  x.   28-31;  Luke  xviii.  28-30;  Matt.  xix. 
27-29. 

2  Matt.  xix.  28  ;  Luke  xxii.  30. 


196  JESUS   CHRIST 

capital  importance,  but  a  fact  which  took 
away  nothing  whatever  from  his  Messianic 
hope  and  his  prediction  of  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom.^ 

1  Matt.  xix.  28  ;  Luke  xxii.  30, 


LU  RING  HIS  MINISTRY  197 


CHAPTER   XII 

FIÎfAL  DEPARTUEE  FOR   JERUSALEM 

"CVER  since  Jesus  had  found  himself 
obliged  to  give  up  his  work  in  Gali- 
lee, to  part  from  those  villages  above  all 
others  beloved,  Capernaum,  Bethsaida, 
Chorazin,  Magdala,  —  he  had  v^^andered  here 
and  there.  We  have  seen  him  drawing 
near  to  Gentile  countries,  keeping  at  his 
command  means  of  easy  escape,  if  Herod 
should  press  him  too  closely,  and  at  times 
even  crossing  the  frontier  and  coming  in 
contact  with  Gentiles,  that  "  world  "  which 
up  to  this  time  he  had  seen  only  from  afar. 
Everywhere  in  these  journeyings  he  car- 
ried with  him  the  thought  "  I  am  going  to 
my  death  ;  the  Messiah  may  and  even  must 
suffer  and  die;  "  and  this  notion,  which  was 
absolutely  anti-Jewish  and  revolting  to  a 
Jew,  completed  his  detachment  from  the 
religion  of  his  fathers.  He  sought  to  instil 
it  into  the  minds  of  his  apostles,  he  never 
tired  of  talking  with  them  of  the  necessity 


198  JESUS    CHRIST 

of  liis  death,  he  returned  continually  to 
the  subject  ;  but  he  never  succeeded  in 
convincing  them,  for  a  Jew  could  not  com- 
prehend such  a  thought  as  the  Messiah  put 
to  death. 

He  had  learned  many  things  during  these 
journeys  on  which  he  had  seen  and  spoken 
with  Gentiles.  It  is  certain  that  from  the 
time  of  his  interview  with  the  Canaanitish 
woman  he  had  rejected  all  Jewish  particu- 
larism. We  have  seen  this  woman  show- 
ing Mm  how  just  and  not  unjust  it  is  to 
give  to  the  dogs  the  bread  which  the  chil- 
dren refuse  ;  and  he  was  already  preparing 
and  was  soon  to  relate  surprising  parables 
of  universal  breadth^  wliich  give  us  his 
final  doctrine  on  this  point,  —  the  parable  of 
the  Excuses,  that  of  the  Husbandmen,  in 
which  he  said  that  the  chikben  of  the 
kingdom,  that  is,  its  natural  inheritors, 
should  be  cast  out.  Ah!  it  was  because 
there  were  moments  when  he  despaired  of 
the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  even  while 
still  hoping  for  it.  It  was  with  regard  to 
this,  as  with  regard  to  his  death  ;  he  affirmed 
its  unavoidable  necessity,  and  yet  he  had 
a  secret  hope  that  it  might  be  avoided. 

1  Matt.  viii.  12  ;  xxi.  33-44 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  199 

As  we  have  already  said,  ever  since 
Peter's  confession  Jesus  had  resolved  to 
make  his  death  by  violence  the  greatest 
act  of  his  mission.  Indeed,  if  it  was  in- 
evitable, it  was  because  it  was  according  to 
the  will  of  God.  Then  it  must  be  that  it 
was  to  serve  his  \vork.  Tliis  reasoning  on 
the  part  of  Jesus  was  in  the  highest  degree 
simple  and  inevitable  ;  there  was  not,  nor 
could  there  be,  room  in  his  soul  for  doubt. 
God  was  in  his  life  and  in  his  work  ;  it  was 
the  Messianic  work  ;  and  if  he  was  to  die  a 
violent  death,  it  was  because  it  was  God's 
will  that  the  Messiah  should  thus  die.  The 
reading  of  certain  passages  of  the  Prophets  ^ 
could  not  but  fortify  this  thought.  He 
knew  that  it  was  the  lot  of  God's  ambassa- 
dors to  be  persecuted,^  that  martyrdom  is 
the  law  of  the  conflict  between  holiness  and 
the  world  ;  and  in  this  sense  he  found  his 
death  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  especially 
in  Isaiah. 

The  celebrated  fifty-third  chapter  cer- 
tainly had  not  taught  him  in  his  youth 
that  the  Messiah  was  to  die  ;  but  it  is  very 
probable  that  when  he  once  understood  the 

^  Isa.  liii.,  for  example. 

'^  Matt.  V.  12  ;  xxi.  35  :  xxiii.  37. 


200  JESUS   CHRIST 

necessity  of  his  martyrdom,  he  would  find 
the  confirmation  of  the  necessity  in  this 
chapter,  and  that  thenceforth  he  applied  it 
to  the  Messiah,  —  a  thing  which  his  con- 
temporaries did  not  do,  and  which  he  him- 
self had  not  done  until  this  time. 

Tliis  is  not  all.  If  a  violent  death  was 
not  to  be  avoided^  if  therefore  it  made  a 
part  of  the  plan  of  God  and  was  intended 
to  serve  his  Messianic  work,  it  was  neces- 
sary, as  we  have  said,  that  it  should  be 
accomplished  in  Jerusalem.  If  he  re- 
mained in  Galilee,  Antipas  would  bring 
about  his  destruction,  and  his  death  would 
be  hardly  noticed.  He  remembered  what 
had  happened  to  John  the  Baptist.  Herod 
would  have  him  also  arrested,  thrown  into 
a  dungeon,  and  then  secretly  done  away 
with,  ordering  that  he  should  be  beheaded 
without  witnesses  ;  and  then  nothing  of 
him  would  remain.  Jesus  had  seen  the 
consequences  of  John's  death;  after  the 
first  impression  of  horror  at  the  murder, 
no  more  had  been  said. 

Herod,  who  by  his  sjDies  kept  watch  of 
Jesus,  might  even  have  him  secretly  assas- 
sinated, and  the  consequences  of  such  a 
crime  would  be  even  worse  :  no  one  would 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  201 

know  what  had  become  of  him.  Some- 
thing else  must  be  done  ;  since  he  was  the 
Messiah,  he  must  die  in  Jerusalem.  He 
must  not  perish  less  gloriously  than  the 
prophets,  and  he  would  not  draw  back 
from  that.  It  would  indeed  be  easy  to 
escape  it  all,  to  go  out  into  Perea,  the  terri- 
tory of  Herod  Philip  —  if  he  wished  !  But 
the  inward  voice,  the  voice  of  the  Father, 
said  to  him,  "  No  prophet  dies  out  of  Jeru- 
salem." And,  besides,  Jerusalem  attracted 
him  ;  he  would  once  more  try  to  win  over 
the  rebellious  city,^  as  he  had  already  so 
often  tried.  Who  could  tell  ?  Perhaps 
he  would  succeed  in  the  end  !  And  then 
he  would  be  welcomed,  and  his  death 
would  not  be  necessary  to  his  work! 

Before  all  tilings,  let  the  Father's  will  be 
done  ;  for  the  moment  his  death  seemed  to 
him  very  necessary,  quite  inevitable.  And 
he  was  constantly  speaking  of  it.  "  They 
will  kill  the  Son  of  man,"  he  would  say  to 
his  disciples.  The  thought  pursued  him, 
—  he  often  repeated  the  same  words, — 
"  They  will  kill  the  Son  of  man  ;  they  will 
kill  him."  2 

1  Luke  xiii.  33. 

2  àTTOKrevovciLV  avrôv.  Matt.  xvi.  21,  xvii.  22,  23; 
Mnrk  ix.  31,  x.  34;  Luke  xviii.  33  ;  etc.,  etc. 


202  JESUS   CHRIST 

If  he  should  be  arrested  in  Jerusalem 
and  regularly  condemned,  how  would  he 
die  ?  No  doubt  by  stoning  :  that  was  most 
probable  ;  it  was  thus  that  his  people  put 
to  death  false  prophets  and  heretics.  He 
could  not  yet  even  di-eam  that  by  a  dex- 
terous manœuvre  they  might  lay  off  upon 
Pilate  all  the  odium  of  his  execution  ;  that 
the  Jews  would  not  have  the  courage  to 
sentence  him,  and  would  find  means,  by 
false  swearing,  to  cause  Jesus  to  be  con- 
demned by  the  Procui-ator.  It  was  prob- 
ably at  the  last  moment  that  the  Sadducees 
had  the  cowardice  to  ask  Pilate  to  pro- 
nounce sentence,  or,  if  they  had  decided  in 
advance  to  do  this,  they  naturally  kept  to 
themselves  the  shameful  secret.^ 

^  I  have  shown,  in  Palestine  au  temps  de  Jésus 
Christ  (5th  edition,  page  103  f.),  that  the  words  "It 
is  not  lawful  for  us  to  put  any  man  to  death  "  were 
merely  a  bit  of  flattery  for  Pilate.  The  Jews,  if  they 
had  chosen,  might  hare  executed  their  own  sentence  of 
death,  and  in  that  case  Jesus  would  have  been  stoned. 
In  predicting  his  own  death  Jesus  made  use  of  the 
word  "crucified"  only  twice  (Matt.  xx.  19;  xxvi.  2). 
Everywhere  else  he  simply  said  that  he  would  be  put 
to  death.  Mark  and  Luke  knew  no  other  expression, 
and  the  word  "  crucified  "  would  very  naturally  have 
been  substituted  (post  eventum)  for  the  words  "put  to 
death"  by  the  author  of  the  first  Gospel.    If  it  be 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  203 

And  now  this  grave  question  presents 
itself:  What  significance  did  Jesus  give 
to  his  violent  death  ?  —  for  he  certainly 
held  that  it  had  significance.  Considering 
it  as  willed  bj  God,  it  was  necessarily,  as 
we  have  said,  of  capital  importance  in  his 
work. 

Let  us  try  to  reply  to  this  question  ;  and 
first  let  us  recall  to  mind  what  work  Jesus 
had  to  do.  He  had  to  prepare,  by  a  change 
in  men's  hearts,  for  the  coming  of  the  king- 
dom of  God.  In  this  work,  wliich  had  been 
the  very  soul  of  his  ministry  in  Galilee,  he 

absolutely  required  that  the  words  be  deemed  authen- 
tic, it  may  be  observed  that  these  two  predictions 
belong  to  the  very  last  days,  and  at  that  moment 
Jesus  may  very  well  have  had  a  presentiment  that  the 
last  ignominy  of  being  delivered  "  to  the  wicked,"  as 
he  called  them,  that  is,  the  Gentiles,  was  reserved  for 
him,  and  that  in  that  case  he  should  die  on  the  cross. 
If  he  already  knew  that  he  was  to  die  during  the 
Feast,  he  might  foresee  that  the  Jews  would  not  dare 
not  to  refer  the  matter  to  Pilate,  who  always  came  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the  Passover.  As  to  the  ex- 
pression, "  If  any  one  will  be  my  disciple,  let  him  take 
up  his  cross  "  (Luke  ix.  23),  it  represents  supreme 
abnegation,  perfect  renunciation,  but"  does  not  neces- 
sarily argue  that  Jesus  knew  that  he  was  to  be  cruci- 
fied. Death  by  the  cross  was  so  frequent  that  Jesus 
might  speak  of  bearing  the  cross  without  necessarily 
foreseeing  his  own  crucifixion. 


204  JESUS   CHRIST 

had  not  succeeded.  Notwithstanding  his 
temporary  success,  he  had  not  obtained  by 
his  teaching  that  conversion,  that  new  birth, 
that  change  of  hearts  and  lives,  which  he 
sought.  Quite  the  contrary,  he  had  been 
rejected. 

None  the  less  did  he  continue  to  declare 
that  the  conditions  of  entrance  into  the 
kingdom  were  such  as  he  had  always 
pointed  out.  His  failure,  though  it  might 
lead  even  to  his  condemnation  to  death, 
had  changed  nothing  of  all  that. 

In  the  beginning,  when  he  had  said, 
"  Come  unto  me  and  I  will  give  you  rest," 
that  is  to  say,  "  I  will  prepare  you  to  enter 
the  kingdom,  I  will  give  you  eternal  life, 
I  will  save  you,"  he  naturally  said  nothing 
about  his  violent  death,  because  he  as  yet 
knew  nothing  about  it.  All  his  sayings 
up  to  this  time  had  thus  implied  that 
each  one  would  find  in  him  the  satisfaction 
of  his  religious  needs,  rest,  peace,  life, 
without  any  reference  to  his  death,  and 
solely  because  he  was  the  Messiah  prepar- 
ing for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom. 

Now  that  he  understood  that  death 
was  probably  inevitable  and  necessary, 
he   changed  nothing  in  his   teachings  as 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  205 

to  the  conditions  of  entrance  into  the 
kingdom.  His  language  remained  the 
same.  The  announcement  of  his  death 
had  nothing  to  do  with  his  preaching  of 
the  kingdom.  Jesus  continued  to  his 
last  day  to  specify  the  same  conditions 
of  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  — 
repentance,  conversion,  the  fulfilling  of 
God's  will.  Especially  were  works  of 
charity  a  means  of  entrance.  One  day, 
describing  the  last  Judgment,  he  declared 
—  and  this  at  the  very  close  of  his  life  — 
that  they  who  should  enter  eternal  life 
would  be  those  who  had  visited  the  sick, 
the  prisoner,  and  the  poor,  who  had 
given  food  to  the  hungry  and  drink  to 
the  thirsty  ;  that  is,  such  as  had  done 
good  deeds.^  These  would  have  their 
"reward"  in  heaven.  He  said  to  a  rich 
young  man,  at  the  very  time  of  his  last 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  that  to  obtain  eternal 
life  he  must  "  keep  the  commandments."  ^ 
Still  a  little  later  he  gave  the  same  answer 
to  a  Scribe  who  asked  him  the  same  ques- 
tion.3    In  both  cases  he  insists  upon  salva- 

1  Matt.  XXV.  31-46.     See   chapter  iii.  page  39  f., 
where  we  have  already  developed  this  thought. 

2  Mark  x.  17  f.  »  Luke  x.  25  f. 


206  JESUS   CHRIST 

tioii  by  acts,  —  selling  liis  goods  for  one, 
showing  mercy  to  a  Samaritan  for  the 
other,  —  in  other  words,  to  show  by  their 
works  that  they  had  a  new  heart.  He 
never  said  that  his  death  would  open  the 
doors  of  the  kingdom  or  that  it  Avas  to  be 
a  means  of  having  them  opened. 

What,  then,  is  the  place  of  his  death 
in  his  work?  We  must  recognize  that, 
so  to  speak,  Jesus  never  answered  this 
question  ;  for  though  he  often  predicted 
his  death,  —  though  the  words  "  The  Son 
of  man  shall  be  rejected,  scoffed  at,  put 
to  death,"  were  continually  upon  his  lips, 
betraying  the  heavy  foreboding,  the  inward 
anguish,  of  his  soul,  —  he  seldom  explained 
himself  as  to  the  meaning  which  he  gave 
these  words. 

Still,  let  us  try  to  picture  to  ourselves 
what  was  passing  in  his  mind  when  he 
thought  thus  of  his  approaching  disap- 
pearance. Let  us  abstract  ourselves  from 
our  modern  ideas  and  all  our  religious 
education,  in  which  we  have  been  taught 
that  Jesus  died  upon  the  cross  for  us,  — 
a  thing  indeed  perfectly  true,  but  needing 
to  be  explained  and  understood.  Let  us 
put  ourselves  in  the  first  century,  a  year 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  207 

before  the  death  of  Jesus,  at  the  time  when 
death  begins  to  appear  to  him  more  and 
more  probable.  He  no  longer  greatly 
hopes  that  his  people  will  be  converted 
by  hearing  his  words.  He  still  hopes  for 
it  at  times  ;  a  change  of  feeling  may  take 
place.  And  yet  it  is  certain  that  his 
work  of  reformation,  that  enterprise  which 
with  such  confidence  he  had  undertaken, 
has  failed.  His  words  and  miracles  do 
not  suffice.  And  so,  what  more  can  he 
do  ?  Of  two  things,  one,  —  either  give  up 
his  mission  or  be  ready  for  anything,  even 
for  death.  There  is  no  middle  path  ;  he 
must  choose  between  these. 

We  may  say  with  assurance  that  Jesus 
never  so  much  as  put  to  himself  this 
question,  because  in  his  view  his  mission 
was  to  do  his  Father's  will,  and  that  will 
was  made  manifest  to  him  by  the  events 
of  his  life.  The  path  of  obedience  which 
had  been  his  from  the  earliest  day  would 
remain  his  without  the  slightest  hesitation 
or  wavering. 

Now,  upon  this  path  which  he  was 
following,  he  had  made  a  marvellous  pro- 
gress ;  and  he  had  made  it  all  at  once, 
by  a  single  step,  —  a  giant  stride  forward. 


208  JESUS   CHRIST 

He  had  entered  upon  a  new  stage  ;  reali- 
ties hitherto  unknown  uprose  before  him, 
realities  more  stern  than  those  which  had 
confronted  him  in  the  days  of  the  desert 
temptation.  At  that  time  he  had  created 
a  Messianic  ideal  which  was  to  be  de- 
tached from  Jewish  superstition  and  fanat- 
icism. He  had  emerged  from  the  desert 
the  spiritual  and  moral  Messiah  ;  now, 
from  the  trials  through  which  he  had 
passed,  loss  of  popularity,  openly  mani- 
fested hatred  of  the  Pharisees,  of  Herod, 
of  the  people  themselves,  he  came  forth 
the  Messiah  who  must  suffer,  sacrifice  him- 
self, go  forward  even  to  martyrdom  and 
death.  His  death  should  be  the  crown 
and  the  capital  work  of  his  life.  For 
the  first  time  he  understood  this  and 
understood  it  perfectly.  But  what  a 
change  !  What  an  overthrow  of  all  that 
he  had  believed,  lived,  understood,  of  all 
that  up  to  this  time  had  been  the  Father's 
will  ! 

It  is  exceedingly  remarkable  that  the 
faith  of  Jesus  in  himself  and  his  work 
remained  absolutely  true  to  itself.  He 
added  to  it  a  new  element,  the  acceptance 
of  a  violent  and  nearly  approaching  death, 


DURING    ms  MINISTRY  209 

that  is,  the  entire  renunciation  of  all  that 
up  to  this  time  had  been  the  strength  and 
the  joy  of  his  life  ;  for  he  had  expected  — 
he  the  Messiah  —  that  during  his  lifetime, 
in  a  few  years,  the  kingdom  of  God  would 
be  manifested.  His  faith  in  his  work 
had  been  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  his  words 
and  his  cures.  Now  that  he  no  longer 
believed  in  the  efficacy  of  his  words,  he 
believed  in  that  of  his  death.  This  faith 
in  his  death  (if  the  expression  may  be 
permitted)  had  become  faith  in  his  work. 
No  doubt,  as  we  have  just  said,  he  hoped 
against  all  hope  ;  a  change  in  the  popular 
disposition  remained  possible  to  the  very 
last  minute,^  but  he  hardly  counted  upon 
it  any  longer.  He  said,  "I  must  be  put 
to  death,"  —  must,  because  the  Father  so 
wills.  The  whole  change  in  his  thought 
is  to  be  explained  by  submission  to  the 
Father's  will  ;  and  thus  that  which  would 
naturally  discourage  him,  make  him  lose 
faith  in  himself,  on  the  contrary  strength- 
ened him.     The  religious  authorities  were 

1  In  our  first  volume  we  showed  that  the  cry  in 
Gethsemane,  "  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup 
pass  from  me,"  has  no  meaning  if  it  does  not  signify, 
'  If  it  be  possible,  let  my  Messianic  work  be  otherwise 
accomplished." 

14 


210  JESUS    CHRIST 

threatening  him,  the  official  world  which 
had  seemed  to  be  the  true  representative 
of  the  thought  of  God,  and  which  he  had 
hoped  to  convert,  would  do  everything  to 
compass  his  destruction,  and,  instead  of 
saying  to  himself,  "  I  was  mistaken,"  he 
saw  in  their  hatred  the  fulfilment  of  the 
will  of  God.  It  was  the  Father's  will 
that  he  should  be  conquered  ;  it  was  in 
defeat  that  his  victory  was  to  consist. 
Never  had  Jesus  been  more  sure  of  him- 
self than  in  this  crisis,  which  bade  fair  to 
overthrow  all  his  hopes,  and  which  in  fact 
did  overthrow  them,  but  without  over- 
throwing him. 

There  he  was,  abandoned  by  the  people, 
rejected  by  every  one,  alone,  misunder- 
stood, a  wanderer,  with  a  violent  death 
looming  up  before  him,  probable  and  near 
at  hand.  Must  he  not  have  said,  under 
such  circumstances,  that  the  Messianic 
time  was  still  far  off,  placing  its  realization 
in  a  far  distant  future  ?  Quite  the  con- 
trary: with  superhuman  faith  and  cour- 
asfe  he  affirmed  that  all  thino;'s  had  been 
committed  to  him  by  the  Father.^  Far 
from  being  discouraged  after  so  many 
1  Matt.  xi.  27. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  211 

sterile  efforts,  he  set  down  the  popular 
desertion  to  the  account  of  the  sufferings 
willed  by  the  Father  for  the  salvation  of 
his  nation  and  the  world. 

This  unalterable  confidence  of  Jesus  in 
his  work,  his  Father,  and  himself  is  cer- 
tainly supernatural.  Death  appeared  be- 
fore him,  the  abrupt  and  tragic  end,  taking 
him  in  the  opening  of  his  work,  overtaking 
and  overpowering  him  in  full  activity  ;  and 
he  had  not  a  shadow  of  hesitation,  because 
God  was  with  and  in  him.  There  is 
enormous  strength,  as  a  proof  of  the  divine 
nature  of  Jesus,  in  this  assurance  which 
no  external  event  could  disturb.  What! 
he  was  to  die,  to  be  taken  away,  and  still 
remain  the  Messiah  !  He  would  still  be  the 
Judge  of  the  world,  the  founder  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  !  He  would  remain  all 
that  he  had  said,  take  back  not  a  single 
particular  ;  would  always  be  thus  sure  of 
himself,  of  God,  and  of  the  truth  ! 

But  did  he  give  any  particular  signifi- 
cance to  his  death?  Let  us  see  how  his 
future  teachings  answer  to  this  question. 
He  considered  his  death  as  decreed  by 
the  Father,  —  a  decision  of  the  Father  very 
distinct  from  his  own,  with  regard  to  him, 


212  JESUS   CHRIST 

Jesus,  — and  he  would  accept  it,  not  without 
conflict  and  anguish,  hut  always  declaring 
that  he  would  do  what  God  willed. 

Allusions  to  his  death,  tliough  unex- 
plained, are  constant  from  the  moment  at 
which  we  have  now  arrived.  He  must 
"  take  account  of  his  forces,"  "  lose  his  life 
to  save  it,"  die  like  a  corn  of  wheat  in 
order  to  bear  fruit,^  "  be  servant  of  all  in 
order  to  be  great."  ^  We  have  a  right  to 
suppose  that  Jesus  was  here  speaking  from 
experience  and  applying  these  words  to 
himself.  It  was  he  who  was  taking  ac- 
count of  his  army  before  undertaking  the 
great  battle,  taking  account  of  his  posses- 
sions before  building  the  tower  on  which 
so  much  must  be  spent  ;  it  was  he  who 
was  losing  his  life  in  order  to  save  it  and 
his  work  ;  it  was  he  who  could  die  like  the 
grain  of  wheat  in  order  to  bear  fruit,  he 
who  would  be  humble  and  servant  of  all 
and  thus  would  be  truly  great.  He  had 
sown,  the  lowing  had  been  hard  and  pain- 
ful, and  now  the  furrow  which  he  had 
traced  must  be  watered  with  his  blood  ; 
but  his  faith  in  the  final  triumph  remained 
the  same.     He  did  not  know  the  day  of  the 

1  John  xii.  24.  "-^  Matt.  xx.  20-28. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  213 

triumph,  —  God  alone  knew  that  date,^  — ■ 
but  he  was  expecting  it  ;  he  believed  in  its 
speedy  coming;  and  in  our  third  volume 
we  shall  show  that  the  apocalyptic  visions 
of  his  last  days  say  nothing  that  Jesus 
might  not  have  said  at  the  opening  of  his 
ministry,  when  he  promised  the  kingdom 
to  the  lowly,  the  thirsting,  the  meek,  and 
the  afflicted. 

Jesus,  then,  saw  in  his  death  an  act  of 
devotion  necessary  to  the  coming  of  the 
kingdom.  Whether  he  died  by  crucifixion 
or  stoning,  his  blood  would  be  none  the 
less  poured  out,  as  he  himself  said  at  a 
later  time,  repeating  an  expression  by 
which  his  people  spoke  of  death.  To  pour 
out  the  blood  of  any  one  was  to  kill  him, 
for  they  said,  "  The  blood  is  the  life." 

Jesus  accepted  the  sacrifice  of  life  which 
the  Father  asked  :  he  offered  himself,  he 
gave  his  life  for  the  sheep,  as  a  good  shep- 
herd should  do.2  The  wolf  was  Satan,  the 
Devil,  who  exercised  an  immense  power 
and  held  men  in  bondage.  The  world 
belonged  to  him  ;  he  was  its  prince.  The 
Son  of  man  had  come  to  minister,  to  offer 
himself  up,  to  give  his  very  life  as  a  ran- 

1  Mark  xiii.  32.  2  joim  x.  11. 


214  JESUS  CHRIST 

som  to  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  that  he 
might  snatch  men  from  this  slavery.  He 
was  the  good  shepherd,  and  he  gave  his 
life  as  a  ransom  to  the  wolf,  the  ravishing 
foe  that  was  carrying  away  the  sheep.^ 

^  It  seems  impossible  to  interpret  otlierwise  the 
passage  (Mark  x.  45  and  Matt.  xx.  28),  "  Tlie  Son  of 
man  is  come  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."  It 
must  first  be  asked  if  Jesus  made  use  of  a  word 
signifying  precisely  what  we  understand  by  ransom, 
that  is  to  say,  the  sum  paid  to  free  a  prisoner.  This 
is  by  no  means  certain.  We  may  remark,  first  of  all, 
that  in  the  Greek  \{)Tpov  ^ovvai  àvri  is  analogous  to 
àiroKvTpâia-ai,  that  is,  set  free,  deliver,  with  no  stipula- 
tion as  to  the  mode  of  deliverance.  But  this  obser- 
vation is  not  enough,  for  Jesus  spoke  in  Aramaic,  and 
it  is  certain  that  in  order  perfectly  to  understand 
the  word  "  ransom  "  we  need  to  know  what  was  the 
Aramaean  word  he  used.  In  general,  a  sound  exegesis 
of  the  important  words  of  Jesus  can  only  be  made  by 
translating  them  back  into  Aramaean,  and  seeking  to 
recover  the  original  phrase  as  it  issued  from  his  lips, 
before  being  translated  by  his  disciples  into  Greek. 
As  to  the  passage  now  occupying  us,  the  question  is 
difficult  to  solve.  Jesus  had  several  words  at  his  dis- 
posal. If  we  were  sure  that  Xinpov  represented  in  the 
thought  of  Jesus  the  kopker  of  the  sacerdotal  legisla- 
tion (applied  to  the  sacrifice),  we  might  give  another 
interpretation  than  "  ransom,"  for  the  Hebrew  sacri- 
fice was  never  a  ransom.  But  (1)  \vTpov  represents 
in  the  LXX.  many  other  words  besides  kopher,  for 
example,  the  derivatives  of  a  verb  which  signifies 
"  redeem  "  (Lev.  xix.  20  ;  Exod.  xxi.  30),  or  it  serves  to 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  215 

Another   passage    must  be  noted.     On 
the  eve  of  his  death,  when  instituting  the 

translate  the  word  "  price  "  (Isa.  xlv.  13).  (2)  Kopher  in 
the  older  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  designates  the 
money  fine  paid  by  the  murderer  to  the  family  of  his 
victim.  In  this  sense  it  is  truly  a  ransom,  a  buying 
back  (Exod.  xxi.  30  ;  cf.  Num.  xxxv.  31,  32).  (3)  Jesus 
spoke  Aramaic,  and  this  language  has  other  words 
besides  that  corresponding  to  kopher  which  serve  to  ren- 
der the  Greek  Kvrpov  ;  for  example,  in  the  passage  which 
occupies  us  (Matt.  xx.  28  ;  Mark  x.  45),  the  Peschito 
makes  use  of  a  word  whose  root  signifies  "  save  "  and 
also  "  ransom."  Let  us  admit,  in  spite  of  these  un- 
certainties, that  Jesus  made  use  of  a  word  clearly 
signifying  "  ransom."  In  this  case  we  affirm  that  there 
can  be  no  question  in  his  thought  of  a  ransom  to  pay 
to  God.  Jesus  never  represented  God  as  a  creditor 
demanding  to  be  paid,  still  less  as  a  master  exacting  a 
ransom  before  delivering  up  his  slaves  or  his  prisoners. 
Jesus  always  taught  that  God  is  a  Father  forgiving 
his  children  without  requiring  anything  else  from 
them  than  their  own  forgiveness  of  their  brothers. 
He  considered  sin  as  a  debt  contracted  toward  God  ; 
he  calls  it  a  debt  in  so  many  words,  and  he  always  de- 
clared that  God  wholly  forgives  us  this  debt.  He  asks 
of  us  only  one  thing,  that  we  ourselves  shall  pardon 
those  who  have  sinned  against  us.  Let  the  reader 
look  up  the  following  passages.  Matt.  vi.  12, 14,  xviii.  35, 
Lvike  xi.  4,  Mark  xi.  25,  Luke  vi.  37,  etc.,  etc.,  and  es- 
pecially read  the  parable  of  the  merciless  servant 
(Matt,  xviii.  24  ff.),  and  he  will  see  that  there  is  per- 
haps no  teaching  which  Jesus  gave  more  constantly, 
more  clearly,  and  upon  which  he  more  insisted,  than 
this.  The  ransom  of  which  he  speaks  in  a  single 
passage  cannot  therefore  be  paid  to  God.     He  for- 


216  JESUS   CHRIST 

Lord's  Supper,  Jesus  said  that  his  blood, 
which  was  about  to  be  shed,  was  "the 
blood  of  the  new  covenant,  shed  for  many, 
for  the  remission  of  sins."  ^  Speaking  thus, 
he  alluded  to  a  passage  in  the  Law.^  Moses, 
after  having  given  the  Law  to  the  people, 
sprinkled  them  with  blood,  saying,  "  This 
is  the  blood  of  the  covenant  which  God 
has  made  with  you."  Jesus  then  solemnly 
affirmed  to  his  apostles  that  he  was  about 
to  pour  out  his  blood  to  cement  a  new 
covenant,  a  covenant  which  would  replace 

gives  the  whole  debt  ;  he  extends  mercy,  he  exacts  no 
ransom.  It  would  be  impossible,  indeed,  to  falsify  a 
whole  teaching  with  a  single  passage.  Whatever  may 
be  the  meaning  of  the  word  "ransom"  in  the  verse  which 
occupies  us,  it  cannot  weaken  the  very  clear  declara- 
tions as  to  the  freedom  of  the  Father's  forgiveness 
with  which  the  teaching  of  Jesus  is  filled.  It  is  with 
this  passage  as  with  the  saying  to  the  Pharisees  when 
Jesus  appears  to  announce  the  kingdom  of  God  as 
present  ;  it  cannot  alter  the  fact  that  everywhere  else, 
at  the  end  as  well  as  at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry, 
Jesus  announces  it  simply  as  to  come.  It  is  the  same 
again  with  his  reply  to  the  messengers  of  John  the 
Baptist,  when  he  seems  to  accord  to  his  miracles  an 
apologetic  value,  when  we  know  distinctly  by  his 
whole  attitude  that  he  gave  them  none  in  the  least. 

1  Matt.  xxvi.  28  ;  Mark  xiv.  24  ;  Luke  xxii.  19,  20  ; 
1  Cor.  xi.  26.  We  shall  study  this  passage  in  detail  in 
our  third  volume. 

"^  Exod.  xxiv. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  217 

that  of  Sinai.  In  this  he  gives  no  theologi- 
cal explanation  of  his  death,  but  he  does 
affirm  its  importance. 

Jesus,  however,  never  considered  his 
death  as  a  sacrifice  in  the  Levitical  sense. 
He  had  found  his  sufferings  predicted  by 
the  prophets,  but  he  never  said  that  his 
death  was  prefigured  by  the  sacrifice  of 
the  Law,  or  in  general  by  the  Temple 
sacrifices. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark 
that  we  never  saw  Jesus  offering  sacrifices 
in  the  Temple,  except  that  of  the  Passover 
out  of  respect  to  a  national  custom,  and 
at  a  patriotic  festival  which  he  much  loved. 
He  commended  the  Scribe  who  said  that 
to  love  God  is  more  than  all  whole  burnt- 
offerings.  We  have  several  times  cited 
the  word  of  God  in  Hosea,  "  I  will  have 
mercy  and  not  sacrifice  ;  "  for  Jesus  often 
repeated  it,  entirely  making  his  own  tliis 
idea,  which  was  much  disseminated  in  his 
time  and  which  came  in  a  straight  line 
from  the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah,  that  God 
asks  of  us,  above  all  things,  the  gift  of  our- 
selves, and  that  the  rites  of  the  Temple  and 
the  lamb  offered  upon  the  altar  are  not 
essential. 


218  JESUS   CHRIST 

When  his  resolution  to  go  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem was  taken,  Jesus  made  haste  to  put  it 
into  execution.  Many  of  his  utterances  of 
that  time  show  a  holy  impatience  to  be 
done  with  it  all  as  soon  as  possible.  Did 
he  hope  thus  to  bring  nearer  the  moment 
of  the  coming  of  the  kingdom  ?  Did  he 
expect  something  new  ?  It  is  certainly  the 
case  that,  comparing  his  death  to  a  baptism 
of  blood,  he  declared  himself  in  haste  to 
receive  it.^  It  was  at  Jerusalem  that  he 
must  receive  it  ;  let  him  hasten  thither  as 
fast  as  possible.  With  "  his  face  steadfastly 
set,"  as  St.  Luke  says,  he  set  out  for  the 
Holy  City.2  He  quitted  the  North  of  Gali- 
lee, passing  by  way  of  Capernaum,  return- 
ing for  a  few  days  to  his  own  home,  —  that 
home  where  he  was  leaving  so  many 
memories,  —  seeing  again  his  mother  and 
brothers,  who  had  left  Nazareth  and  estab- 
lished themselves  in  Capernaum.  They 
urged  hi^  to  perform  some  Messianic  act. 
Let  him  hesitate  no  longer  ;  let  him  go  to 
Jerusalem,  do  some  startling  thing.  Jesus 
refused,  and  the  chasm  that  separated  him 
from  his  own  grew  yet  deeper.  Some 
startling  thing  !     "  A  sign  from  heaven  !  " 

1  Luke  xii.  50.  »  Luke  ix.  51. 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  219 

as  the  Pharisees  had  often  said  to  him  ;  then 
not  one  of  liis  brothers  nor  even  his  mother 
understood  him.  No  doubt  he  was  to  do  a 
startling  thing,  but  a  very  different  one 
from  what  they  thought  ! 

To  his  mind,  it  was  essential  to  go  to 
Judea,  and  because  of  Herod  he  considered 
it  important  that  no  one  should  suspect  his 
presence  in  Galilee.  He  therefore  left 
Capernaum  incognito,  never  again  to  see 
this  village.  Without  being  observed,  he 
went  do^vn  the  Jordan  valley,  taking  once 
more  that  road  so  often  traversed,  which 
follows  the  eastern  frontier  of  Samaria. 
He  had  passed  along  it  for  the  first  time 
at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  and  how  often 
in  the  interval  !  But  this  time  he  did  not 
immediately  follow  the  road  to  its  end  ;  he 
would  not  yet  give  himself  up  to  his 
enemies.  He  wanted  a  few  days  of  liberty, 
and  so  he  crossed  the  river.  On  the  other 
shore  he  would  be  at  rest  :  it  was  Perea  ; 
no  one  would  disturb  him. 

But  this  stay  was  short,  and  toward  the 
middle  of  autumn  in  the  year  29  (we  may 
indicate  this  date  without  too  much  te- 
merity) he  recrossed  the  Jordan,  arrived  at 
Jericho,  and  once  more  began  openly  his 


220  JESUS   CHRIST 

public  life,  without  the  least  allusion  to  its 
probable  issue.  He  appeared  at  Jerusalem 
in  the  early  days  of  October,  at  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles.  There  we  shall  find  him 
again  in  our  last  volume. 


DURING  HIS  MINI  S  TUT  221 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  NAMES    ASSUJVIED  BY  JESUS 

npHAT  we  may  penetrate  yet  more  deeply 
into  the  mind  of  Jesus,  we  have  now 
to  study  the  names  which  he  gave  himself 
or  permitted  others  to  give  him,  seeking 
to  know  in  what  sense  he  took  them. 
Faithful  to  our  method,  we  shall  confine 
ourselves  to  interrogating  and  ascertaining 
the  facts. 

In  our  first  volume  we  showed  that  Jesus 
believed  himself  to  be  the  Messiah  from 
the  time  of  his  baptism.  To  follow  the 
development  of  his  thought  about  himself 
from  that  day  forward,  we  must  rest  upon 
this  liistoric  basis  :  he  believed  himself  to 
be  the  Messiah.  This  is  the  starting-point. 
He  was  born  at  the  very  time  when  men 
were  expecting  the  Messiah;  and  this 
wholly  external  historic  fact  certainly  had 
its  influence  upon  his  first  decision. 

He  had  been  arriving  at  it  little  by  little, 
and  at  his   baptism  it  became  definitive. 


222  JESUS   CHRIST 

At  the  temptation  he  had  repelled  the 
popular  Jewish  Messianism  which  was  to 
accomplish  a  political  revolution;  it  was 
by  a  wholly  spiritual  and  moral  course  of 
action  that  he  would  prepare  for  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Toward  the  end  he  took  a 
further  step  :  he  was  to  be  a  suffering 
Messiah,  persecuted  and  dying  as  a  sacri- 
fice. We  must  now  ask  what  consequences 
are  involved  in  tliis  affirmation,  "  I  am  the 
Messiah." 

One  point  must  first  be  ascertained; 
Did  Jesus  deceive  himself  ?  This  question, 
which  we  put  to  ourselves  in  our  first 
volume,  here  presents  itself  anew.  Renan 
has  said  that  Jesus,  intoxicated  by  success, 
believed  himself  to  be  the  Messiah.  He 
was  sane  at  the  beginning  of  his  ministry, 
he  was  no  longer  so  at  its  close  ;  and  his 
histor}^,  as  Renan  relates  it,  notwithstand- 
ing the  carefulness  with  which  he  treats  it, 
is  the  history  of  the  growing  excitement  of  a 
man  who  began  with  good  sense,  clearness 
of  vision,  the  moral  health  of  a  fine  and 
noble  genius,  and  who  ended  in  a  sickly 
exaltation  next  door  to  insanity.  The 
word  "madness  "  was  not  written  by  Renan, 
but  the  thought  may  be  found  expressed  on 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  223 

every  page.  Well,  the  facts  are  opposed 
to  this  explanation.  We  affirmed  this  in 
our  first  volume;  here  we  must  demon- 
strate it.  The  demonstration  is  so  much 
the  more  necessary  as  the  error  in  question, 
which  is  the  capital,  fundamental,  one  may 
almost  say  the  only,  error  in  Renan's  Life 
of  Jesus,  has  been  widely  spread  abroad 
and  received  as  truth.  There  is  a  general 
belief  that  Renan  found  the  key  to  the 
great  enigma,  and  with  it  explained  Jesus 
Christ.  Therefore  Christianity  is  done 
away  ;  no  one  thinks  of  it  any  more. 
Now,  what  Renan  discovered  is  tliis  :  Jesus 
succeeded,  and  Ms  success  dazzled  him, 
blinded  him,  turned  liis  head,  and  he 
became  the  mysterious  apocalyptic  per- 
sonage of  the  last  days. 

Well,  we  do  not  think  it  is  possible,  with 
history  at  hand,  to  talk  of  the  visible  suc- 
cess of  the  ministry  of  Jesus,  He  was 
misunderstood  by  the  people,  and  always 
less  and  less  understood  by  them.  They 
felt  for  him  the  merest  passing  admiration. 
The  authorities,  the  leaders,  the  theolo- 
gians, for  the  most  part  held  him  in  very 
small  estimation  ;  and,  above  all,  however 
great  may  have  been  his  popularity  in  the 


224  JESUS   CHRIST 

early  days,  it  is  historically  certain  that  it 
continually  went  on  diminishing.  When 
Jesus  cried,  "Father,  I  thank  thee  that 
thou  hast  hidden  these  things  from  the 
wise  and  prudent  and  hast  revealed  them 
unto  babes,"  ^  he  recognized  that  these 
new  truths  were  hidden  from  the  doctors. 
They  were  hidden  by  the  decision  of  a 
supreme  and  mysterious  will. 

And  later,  when  the  crisis  came,  he 
kept  his  faith  in  himself.  If  he  had 
been  at  the  mercy  of  success  or  failure, 
guided  by  an  external  fatality,  he  would 
have  given  up  the  attempt  ;  he  did  just  the 
contrary.  In  the  hour  of  failure,  pre- 
cisely when  the  people  were  leaving  him, 
he  declared  himself  to  be  the  Messiah, 
with  an  assurance,  a  decision,  a  certitude 
greater  than  ever.  We  have  pointed  out 
the  strength  of  mind,  the  faith  and  cour- 
age with  which  in  the  midst  of  the  crisis  he 
affirmed  his  Messiahship.  This  was  the 
moment,  as  we  have  shown,  when  he 
might  have  said,  "I  have  deceived  my- 
self, I  have  lost  all,  the  time  of  the 
Messiah  has  not  yet  come  ;  "  yet,  on  the 
contrary,  it  was  at  this  moment  that  he 

1  Matt.  xi.  25. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  225 

gave  a  more  precise  form  to  his  work.  It 
was  an  external  event,  the  necessity  of  his 
violent  death,  which  gave  birth  to  the 
inward  conviction,  "  I  am  continually  more 
certain,  I  am  more  certain  now  than  ever, 
that  I  am  the  Messiah;"  and  at  the  same 
time  he  affirmed  that  all  things  had  been 
committed  to  him  by  the  Father.^ 

We  have  here,  then,  a  solid  historic  basis 
for  knowing  the  thought  of  Jesus  about 
himself.  He  had  a  profound,  invincible, 
all-powerful  conviction  of  his  special  voca- 
tion. He  was  convinced  that  the  future 
founder  of  the  kingdom  was  already  pres- 
ent in  the  world  ;  and,  let  it  be  carefully 
observed,  he  showed  not  merely  strength 
of  mind,  the  courage  of  the  unfortunate 
in  adversity  (for  him  there  was  no  adver- 
sity in  the  prospect  of  death,  since  it  was 
willed  by  the  Father  ;  death  was  good  and 
essential  to  the  Messianic  work),  he  showed 
not  only  courage,  but  the  certitude  that  he 
was  the  extraordinary  personage  expected 
by  his  people,  yet  at  the  same  time  very 
different  from  him,  since  lie  must  die  by 
a  violent  death.  His  consciousness,  which 
may  not  be  separated  from  his  communion 

1  Matt.  xi.  27. 
15 


226  JESUS   CHRIST 

with  the  Father,  thus  revealed  to  him  what 
he  was  and  what  his  work  was  to  be. 

While  affirming  that  he  was  the  Messiah, 
and  accepting  the  utterance  of  Peter, 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ  !  "  Jesus  never 
gave  himself  this  name,  but  called  liimself 
the  Son  of  man. 

He  did  so  in  the  very  opening  of  his 
ministry,  and  the  appellation  aids  us 
much  to  understand  his  thought  about 
himself.  Jesus  attached  to  it  extreme 
importance  ;  he  constantly  gave  himself 
this  name,  he  preferred  it  to  any  other, 
and  he  was  alone  in  thus  prizing  it.  His 
apostles  never  adopted  it;  never,  with  a 
single  exception,^  did  one  of  his  disciples 
give  it  to  him  ;  it  is  probable  that  they  did 
not  understand  it.  The  name  contains, 
indeed,  an  element  of  the  enigmatical. 

To  catch  its  true  meaning,  let  us  remain 
in  the  field  of  facts.  When  Jesus  took 
tills  name  it  had  behind  it  a  somewhat 
long  past  and  a  true  history.  Let  us  relate 
this  history. 

The  prophets,  Ezekiel  for  example,  made 
use  of  it  to  designate  themselves.  It  was 
a  term    of   humility.     By  taking    it  the 

1  Acts  vii,  56. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  227 

jDi'ophet  meant  to  stipulate  clearly  that  he 
was  only  a  man,  although  charged  with 
a  divine  revelation.  Thus,  in  the  time  of 
the  prophets,  this  name  in  no  sense  implied 
Messianic  dignity  ;  it  was  simply  a  proof 
that  a  man  was  the  bearer  of  a  higher 
revelation. 

Daniel,  who  came  afterward,  gave  an 
entirely  different  meaning  to  the  epithet 
"  Son  of  man."  This  prophet  declared  \ 
that  after  the  four  empires  represented  by 
the  four  animals  the  Messianic  kingdom 
would  appear,  represented  by  a  Son  of  man. 
The  Ancient  of  Days  would  confer  upon  a 
being  like  unto  a  son  of  man  power  to 
judge  the  world  and  govern  it  eternally .^ 
This  detail  is  of  capital  importance  ;  this 
phrase  of  Daniel's  impressed  men's  minds 
to  such  a  point  that  in  the  time  of  Jesus 
the  name  Son  of  man  had  become  a 
synonyme  for  Messiah,  in  his  capacity  of 
judge  of  the  world  and  ruler  over  the  new 
social  state  which  was  imminent.  The 
proofs  of  what  we  here  affirm  are  abun- 
dant ;3  and  Jesus  knew  so  well  the   pas- 

1  Dan.  vii.  13.  2  IJyid.  and  viii.  15,  x.  16. 

3  Enoch  xlvi.  1,  2,  3,  xlviii.  2,  3,  Ixii.  9,  14,  Ixx.  1. 
Cf.  Matt.  X.  23,  xiii.  41,  xvi.  27,  28,  xix.  28,  xxiv.  27,  30, 


228  JESUS   CHRIST 

sages  of  Enoch  upon  this  subject,  and  the 
whole  theology  of  his  time,  that  when  he 
stood  before  the  Sanhédrin  he  called  him- 
self the  Son  of  man  in  the  very  words  of 
Daniel. 

There  is,  then,  no  doubt  concerning  the 
signification  wliich  Jesus  gave  to  this 
name.  He  accepted  the  change  of  mean- 
ing which  Daniel  gave  it,  as  indeed  did  all 
the  theologians  of  his  time. 

But  the  people  did  not.  The  new 
meaning  of  the  phrase  "  Son  of  man  "  re- 
mained unknown  to  them.  They  continued 
to  take  it  in  the  sense  that  Ezekiel  had 
given  it,  which  was  the  simplest  sense.  To 
them  "  Son  of  man  "  was  what  it  was  in  all 
the  Semitic  languages,  and  especially  in 
the  Aramaic,  a  pure  and  simple  synonyme 
of  the  word  "  man."  In  all  these  languages, 
in  fact,  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  Son  "  and 
of  the  expression  "  Son  of  "  is  extremely 
large.i     Thus  the  Son  of  man  was,  in  the 

37,  39,  44,  XXV.  31,  xxvi.  64  ;  Mark  xiii.  26,  xiv.  62  ; 
Luke  xii.  40,  xvii.  24,  26,  30,  xxi.  27,  36,  xxii.  69;  Acta 
vii.  55,  56  ;  John  v.  27  ;  Rev.  i.  13,  xiv.  14. 

1  "  Son  of  the  devil  "  is  found,  Matt.  xiii.  38  ;  Acts 
xiii.  10. 

Son  of  this  world,  Luke  xx.  34. 

Son  of  light,  Luke  xvi.  8  ;  John  xii.  36. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  229 

minds  of  the  people,  not  the  Messiah,  but  a 
prophet,  a  revealer.  We  can  comprehend, 
therefore,  how  it  was  that  the  apostles 
never  grasped  the  Messianic  meaning  of 
this  name.  In  taking  it,  Jesus,  who  knew 
the  ignorance  of  the  people,  knew  very- 
well,  wliile  giving  himself  a  Messianic 
title  and  designating  himself  as  the  Mes- 
siah, how  to  veil  from  the  eyes  of  the  igno- 
rant the  true  signification  of  the  word. 
Thus  he  could  ask,  "Who  do  men  say 
that  I,  the  Son  of  man,  am?"^  The  name 
could  be  taken  in  two  senses  ;  and  Jesus, 
who  knew  this  perfectly  well,  followed  his 
usual  method,  not  to  destro}^  but  to  fulfil, 
—  to  take  a  familiar  traditional  name  and 
transform  it,  making  of  it  something  new 
and  original  for  almost  everybody. 

The  Son  of  man  was,  then,  in  the  thought 
of  Jesus  :  1.  The  Messiah  ;  for  the  Rab- 
bis in  their  schools  and  the  Apocalypses 
unknown  to    the    people  gave   him    that 

Son  of  the  resurrection,  Luke  xx.  36. 
Son  of  the  kingdom,  Matt.  viii.  12,  xiii.  38. 
Son  of  the  bridegroom,  Matt.  ix.  15  ;    Mark   ii.  19  ; 
Luke  V.  34. 

Son  of  hell,  Matt,  xxiii.  15. 
Son  of  peace,  Luke  xvi.  16. 
1  Matt.  xvi.  13. 


230  JESUS   CHRIST 

name.  2.  A  simple  man  charged  with  a 
divine  revehxtion,  a  prophet.  Jesus  used  it 
in  both  senses.  He  was  the  Son  of  man, 
the  glorious  and  triumphant  Messiah,  in  his 
eschatological  predictions,  and  in  his  ser- 
mons to  the  people  he  was  the  Son  of  man, 
humble  and  poor,  who  had  not  where  to  lay 
his  head.  The  name,  then,  answered  to  a 
process  which  Jesus  loved,  and  which  he 
set  working  in  the  parables,  to  awaken  at- 
tention, and  force  serious  consciences  to  put 
to  themselves  an  interrogatory.  The  name 
at  the  same  time  revealed  and  concealed 
him.  It  did  not  say  everything,  and  this 
was  just  what  he  wished  at  the  beginning, 
—  without  openly  proclaiming  himself  as 
the  Messiah,  to  do  the  work  of  the  Messiah, 
and  leave  it  to  men  to  divine  who  he  was 
and  recognize  him. 

The  people  gave  him  the  name  Son  of 
David  ;  but  the  apostles  never  did,  and  he 
himself  never  took  it.  Yet  it  was  one  of 
the  names  of  the  Messiah,  according  to 
ideas  which  had  been  current  since  the 
close  of  the  Asmonean  period.  It  was 
admitted  by  every  one  that  the  expected 
Avenger  would  descend  from  David  and 
be    born    at    Bethlehem.      St.    Paul,   for 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  231 

example,  was  convinced  that  Jesus  had 
been  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the 
flesh.i  To  believe  that  Jesus  was  the 
Messiah  was  to  believe  that  he  was  de- 
scended from  David  ;  one  was  not  sepa- 
rated from  the  other,  and  the  two  terms 
"  Messiah  "  and  "  Son  of  David  "  were 
synonymous. 

Yet  Jesus  never  took  to  himself  the 
name  of  Son  of  David  ;  he  permitted  it  to 
be  given  liim.  There  is  a  shade  of  differ- 
ence there.  He  certainly  accepted  his 
Davidic  descent,  since  he  never  either  re- 
fused or  consented  to  it,  since  he  never 
denied  or  contested  it  ;  but  he  preferred 
not  to  take  officially  the  name  Son  of 
David.  It  is  probable  that  he  wished  by 
this  means  to  thoroughly  establish  the  fact 
that  his  coming  reign  would  have  nothing 
in  common  with  that  of  a  king  like  David, 
who  would  have  armies  and  exercise  a 
military  power. 

There  were,  indeed,  many  things  which 
Jesus  did  not  repel,  although  he  did  not 
adopt  them,  which  he  simply  let  alone. 
Thus  he  permitted  his  disciples  to  baptize 
with  John 's  baptism  at  the  time  when  he 

1  Rom.  i.  3. 


232  JESUS   CHRIST 

was  detaching  himself  from  John,  and  was 
himself  no  longer  baptizing.  In  the  same 
way  there  were  in  his  time  ideas  and  opin- 
ions which  he  had  no  reason  for  rejecting, 
for  in  themselves  they  were  neither  false 
nor  erroneous.  They  included  nothing  to 
be  condemned,  and  yet  notwithstanding 
he  did  not  preach  them  and  did  not  cause 
his  disciples  to  preach  them. 

Do,  then,  the  names  Messiah,  Chi'ist,  Son 
of  man,  Son  of  David,  tell  us  all  that  Jesus 
had  thought  about  himself  ?  Not  at  all  : 
they  are  merely  to  serve  as  a  basis  ;  they 
are  a  point  of  departure,  but  there  was  a 
progress.  Upon  this  basis  Jesus  built  up 
a  more  complete  notion  of  his  person  ;  he 
summed  it  up  under  another  name,  that  of 
Son  of  God.i 

In  taking  the  name  of  Son  of  man,  Jesus 
gave  himself  a  historic  title,  but  did  not 
fully  define  himself.  He  claimed  this 
title  solely  to  show  that  he  was  bringing 
the  promised  Messianic  blessings,  and  to 
bring  to  mind  his  quality  of  judge  ;  but 
besides  this  it  instructed  liis  apostles  con- 
cerning his  person.  He  often  explained  to 
them   who  he   was;   and  in   these  secret 

1  Matt.  xi.  27-30. 


DURING  HIS   MINISTRY  233 

interviews,  when  he  insisted  less  upon  his 
title  of  Messiah  than  upon  his  relations  with 
the  Father,  he  took  the  name  Son  of  God. 

To  understand  as  far  as  is  possible 
to  us  what  this  name  signifies,  we  may 
recall  to  mind  that  Jesus  exercised  a  great 
ascendancy  over  his  disciples.  He  had 
gained  them  by  a  superiority  which  made 
itself  felt;  it  was  a  moral  grandeur,  a 
charm,  if  one  wills,  but  the  charm  of  a 
singularly  elevated  nature.  It  had  sufficed 
for  him  to  say  to  them,  "  Follow  me,"  and 
they  followed  him.  They  admired  liim, 
loved  him,  were  carried  away  by  him, 
subjugated,  full  of  enthusiasm.  Jesus  had 
taken  care  to  preserve  that  first  impression. 
He  had  developed  that  attachment  ;  he  had 
done  more  ;  he  had  had  private  conversa- 
tions with  his  apostles  on  the  subject  of 
his  person.  He  had  sought  to  convince 
them  of  his  perfect  communion  with  his 
Father,  and  it  was  then  that  he  gave  him- 
self the  name  Son  of  God.  It  was  essen- 
tial, in  fact,  that  they  should  believe  in  liis 
sayings  as  in  the  Word  of  God  itself  ;  and 
if  they  gave  themselves  to  him,  it  was 
because  they  were  convinced  that  he  was 
the  Revelation  of  God,  that  the  destinies 


234  JESUS  CHRIST 

of  the  kingdom  had  been  confided  to  him,  — 
in  a  word,  because  they  believed  in  his 
person. 

In  one  of  the  most  authentic  passages  in 
the  Gospels,  a  passage  drawn  from  the 
primitive  collections  of  the  discourses  of 
Jesus  made  by  the  apostle  Matthew,  we 
find  these  words  :  "  All  things  have  been 
committed  to  me  by  the  Father,  and  no 
man  knoweth  the  Son  except  the  Father, 
and  none  knoweth  the  Father  except  the 
Son  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal 
him."  ^  In  this  we  come  upon  what  Jesus 
used  to  say  to  his  apostles  in  their  secret 
interviews.  He  had  had  experience  of  the 
blindness  of  the  sages,  the  doctors,  the 
wise  men  ;  he  had  just  offered  thanks  to 
God  for  revealingf  divine  things  to  children 
and  to  the  humble  ;  it  was  he,  the  Son,  who 
made  the  Father  known  to  the  lowly  of 
this  world,  and  the  Father  had  put  him  in 
charge  of  this  work,  which  was  the  work  of 
preparation  for  the  coming  of  the  kingdom. 
For  this  reason  he  had  given  everything 
over  to  him,  —  and  no  one  but  God  can  know 
truly  the  depth  of  the  thought  of  Jesus, 
—  and  he  added,  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye 

1  Matt.  xi.  25,  26. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  235 

who  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you 
and  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly 
of  heart,  and  you  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden 
is  light."! 

The  extraordinary  gentleness  of  these 
words  is  equalled  only  by  their  incredible 
assurance.  We  cannot  and  ought  not  to  go 
beyond  them.  We  can  think  no  differently 
of  Jesus  from  what  he  has  thought  of  him- 
self, and  what  he  thought  we  know  only 
in  part.  Let  us  accept  this  ignorance. 
God  has  not  permitted  that  we  should 
know  more  of  him,  and  very  daring  are 
the  constructors  of  dogmatic  theory  who 
build  upon  a  basis  so  insufficient.  They 
must  be  reminded  of  this  saying,  "  No  one 
knows  the  Son  but  the  Father,  and  no 
one  knows  the  Father  but  the  Son  and  he 
to  whom  the  Son  will  reveal  him."  Then, 
no  one  comprehends  God  except  Jesus, 
and  he  who  believes  in  him  and  finds  God 
by  him  ;  and  as  to  the  Son  himself,  no  one 
knows  him  but  the  Father.  Thus,  the 
nearer  we  live  to  Jesus  Clirist,  the  nearer 
we  live  to  God.  Let  us  not  ask  more,  and, 
1  Matt.  xi.  28,  29,  30. 


236  JESUS   CHRIST 

in  the  name  of  this  saying,  let  us  not  hesi- 
tate to  call  them  too  daring  who  formulate 
and  make  precise  statements.  It  was  the 
great  error  of  the  fourth  century  to  have 
forgotten  this  passage. 

Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God,  but  he  seems 
never  to  have  conceived  the  idea  that  he 
miarht  be  an  incarnation  of  God.^  The 
Jews  calumniated  him  when  they  insisted 
that  he  made  liimself  equal  to  God,^  and  it 
is  certain  that  these  expressions  applied  to 
his  death — the  blood  of  God,  the  death  of 
God  —  would  have  horrified  him.  He  was 
less  than  his  Father  ;  ^  the  Father  had  not 
revealed  all  things  to  him.*  If  he  was 
Son  of  God  in  a  special  sense,  he  was  that 
as  all  men  are  or  may  become  his  sons.^ 
We  cannot  go  further  without  entering  the 
domain  of  dogmatics,  and  we  abide  by  the 
expression  "  divine  sonship."  Already  dur- 
ing the  eighteen  years  of  his  preparation  at 

1  Matt.  xix.  17  ;  Mark  x.  18  ;  Luke  xviii.  19. 

a  John  V.  18  ff.,  x.  33  f.  «  John  xiv.  28. 

*  Mark  xiii.  31. 

6  Matt.  V.  9,  45  ;  Luke  vi.  35,  xx.  36  ;  John  i.  12,  13, 
X.  34,  .35.  Cf.  Acts  xvii.  28,  29  ;  Kom.  vili.  14,  19,  21, 
jx.  26  ;  2  Cor.  vi.  18  ;  Gal.  iii.  20,  and  in  the  Ohl  Testa- 
ment, Deut.  xiv.  1  ;  Wisdom  ii.  13,  18.  All  who  are 
raised  from  the  dead  will  be  sons  of  God,  Luke  xx.  .36. 


DURING  EI  S  MINISTRY  237 

Nazareth  it  was  in  his  consciousness  of 
being  the  Son  of  God  that  Jesus  found  the 
strength  and  joy  of  his  heart,  and  because 
he  felt  himself  to  be  the  Son  of  God  he 
was  convinced  that  he  was  the  bringer  of 
a  new  covenant.  It  was  because  he  felt 
himself  to  be  the  Son  of  God  that  in  the 
days  of  the  temptation  he  transformed  the 
notion  of  the  Messiah  and  that  of  the  prep- 
aration for  the  Messianic  kingdom;  and 
upon  this  divine  sonship,  as  we  have  shown, 
he  built  the  idea  of  salvation. 

He  was  the  Son  of  God  in  a  special  sense, 
for  he  said  my  Father,  your  Father,  but 
never  our  Father  in  common  with  his  dis- 
ciples. He  separated  himself  from  the  rest 
of  humanity  ;  but  this  was  only  an  appear- 
ance, for  his  purpose  was  to  raise  humanity 
up  to  himself,  to  create  among  men  and 
within  them  that  normal  relation  to  God 
which  sin  had  destroyed.  To  this  end 
he  preached  the  Father,  he  revealed  the 
Father,  he  desired  that  humanity  should 
know  God  as  Father.  He  felt  that  he  must 
awaken  the  sentiment  of  divine  sonship; 
then  the  kingdom  would  come. 


238  JESUS    CHRIST 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  EEQUIEEIVIENTS   OP  JESUS 

T^O  study  the  names  which  Jesus  took 
is  still  not  enough. 

At  the  moment  at  which  we  have  arrived, 
at  the  hour  when  he  was  going  up  to 
Jerusalem,  where  his  approaching  death 
loomed  up  hefore  him,  we  must  understand 
the  words  which  he  spoke  about  himself. 
These  words  are  of  so  imperative  a  nature 
that  any  elucidation,  any  development,  can 
only  weaken  their  import. 

They  are  such  as  were  never  before 
heard,  and  their  character  is  absolute. 
Men  must  follow  him,  love  him,  serve  him, 
believe  in  him,  and  give  themselves  to  him, 
because  he  first  gave  himself,  and  because 
he  brings  to  us  not  a  new  doctrine  but  a 
person,  hi's  own.  Men  must  live  only  for 
him,  love  only  him,  prefer  no  other  being 
to  him.i 

1  Matt.  X.  37-39,  xvi.  24,  25;  Luke  ix.23-25,  xiv.  26, 
27  ;  John  xii.  26. 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  239 

The  replies  which  he  gave  to  those  who 
desired  to  follow  hiui  are  equally  distinct 
and  uncompromising.^  Where  the  ques- 
tion is  of  himself,  what  one  owes  to  him, 
what  his  disciples  are  bound  to  do  for  his 
sake,  he  refuses  all  half-way  measures  and 
apj)roximations.  He  asks  for  all  ;  he  will 
have  all.  Renunciation  must  be  complete,^ 
all  that  one  has,  without  restriction.  One 
must  flee  from  all  that  binds  him  to  earth  ; 
and  liis  illustrations  are  frightfully  strong, 
—  one  must  cut  off  the  hand,  pluck  out  the 
eye,  which  cause  him  to  fall  into  sin.^ 

One  may  take  upon  himself  to  renounce 
marriage,  but  this  he  does  not  absolutely 
ask.*  In  every  case  he  requires  a  total 
renunciation  of  property,  of  the  family,  and 
the  rupture  of  all  ties  of  blood  .^  His  dis- 
ciples must  make  no  provision  for  a  journey, 
not  a  change  of  clothing,  not  even  a  wallet , 
they  are  to  live  upon  alms.^     They  must 

1  Matt.  viii.  21,  22  ;  Luke  ix.  59-62. 
a  Luke  xiv.  33. 

3  Matt,  xviii.  8,  0  ;  Mark  ix.  43  ff. 
*  Matt.  xix.  10  ff. 

5  Luke  xviii.  29,  30  ;  Matt.  x.  37  ff.  ;  Luke  xiv.  26, 
27. 

6  Matt.  X.  8  f .  ;  Mark  vi.  8  f .  ;  Luke  ix.  3  f .,  x.  1  f 
Cf.  Midrash  Jalkouth  sur  Deuter.  Sur.  824. 


240  JESUS  CHRIST 

not  prepare  their  defence  before  their 
judges  ;  the  Paraclete  will  inspire  them  and 
will  be  their  guide  through  the  world.^ 
They  will  be  hated,  persecuted,  "  lambs  in 
the  midst  of  wolves,"  but  let  them  fear 
nothing.  They  are  "of  more  value  than 
many  sparrows."  ^  He  will  confess  be- 
fore his  Father  those  who  have  confessed 
him  before  men,  and  he  will  deny  those 
who  have  denied  him,  when  he  returns  in 
glory  ;  ^  and  this  will  be  soon,  for  he  ended 
by  declaring  that  they  would  not  have 
finished  making  a  tour  of  the  cities  of 
Israel  when  the  Son  of  man  should  appear. 
In  fact,  perfectly  to  comprehend  the 
words  in  which  Jesus  demanded  the  renun- 
ciation of  all  worldly  goods*  and  even  of 
the  family,  we  must  remember  that  at  that 
time  every  one  was  jjersuaded  that  the  end 
of  the  world  was  at  hand.  Men  did  not 
even  ask  a  question  as  to  the  time,  no  one 
asked  himself  when  it  would  come,  for  it 

1  Matt.  x*.  20  ;  Luke  xxi.  14  f.  ;  Mark  xiii.  11  ;  John 
xiv.  10  f .,  XV.  26,  xvi.  7-13. 

2  Matt.  XX.  24-31;  Luke  xxii.  4-7,  i.  17;  John  xv. 
18  f .,  xvii.  14. 

8  Matt.  X.   32,  33;  Mark  viii.  38  ;  Luke  ix.  26,  xii. 
8,9. 

*  Luke  xiv.  26  f . 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  241 

was  expected  to  make  itself  apparent  at 
short  notice.  It  was  an  admitted,  recog- 
nized fact,  beyond  all  argument.  A  Jew  of 
that  time  would  say,  The  end  of  all  things 
is  at  hand,  exactly  as  we  affirm  that  the 
sun  will  rise  to-morrow,  and  it  could  not 
enter  the  mind  of  any  one  that  the  world 
would  last  perhaps  during  long  centuries. 

In  general,  Jesus  condemned  the  good 
things  of  this  world  only  as  they  hinder 
the  accomplishment  of  one's  Christian 
duties.  There  were  cases  where  he  did  not 
disapprove  of  them  absolutely,  but  solely 
if  they  were  the  cause  of  one's  falling  into 
sin.^  But  there  were  also  times  when  he 
said  that  earthly  goods  always  do  harm, 
that  they  are  always  a  cause  of  falling  or 
of  sin.2  These  precepts  can  only  be  taken 
literally  by  those  who  believe  that  the 
world  is  about  to  perish.  How  otherwise 
can  people  literally  put  such  teachings  into 
practice,  break  all  family  ties,  give  all  their 
goods  to  the  poor,  give  up  all  that  they 
possess  ?  There  have  been  found  holy  men 
who  said  that  it  should  be  done  and  who 
tried  to  do  it.     They  were  mistaken.    And 

1  Mark  ix.  43,  and  parallel  passages. 

2  Luke  xiv.  25  ff.  is  explicit. 

16 


242  JESUS  CHRIST 

yet  would  not  the  perfect  man  be  he  who 
should  precisely  conform  his  life  to  Christ's 
precepts,  and  meet  all  his  requirements? 
Certainly;  and  therefore  we  see  that  an 
immense,  a  prodigious  moral  progress  has 
been  made  by  Christian  humanity  since 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  the  world  owes  it  to 
his  gospel,  and  particularly  to  these  uncom- 
promising words.  It  is  these  precepts, 
holding  up  the  ideal  before  our  eyes,  which 
have  brought  about  this  progress.  Jesus 
said.  This  is  the  goal  ;  he  made  appeal  to 
the  power  of  the  will  ;  he  showed  that  man 
has  within  him  divine  forces  whose  power 
is  without  limit. 

Furthermore,  when  he  gave  these  precepts 
he  applied  them  to  himself,  and  he  had 
already  made  the  sacrifice  of  his  life. 
When  he  gave  them,  and  when  he  thought 
of  his  death,  he  was  looking  to  the  beyond; 
he  was  prophesying  of  the  future,  and  gaz- 
ing with  magnificent  clearness  of  vision 
upon  the  frightful  tempest  which  he  was 
about  to  let  loose.  He  was  about  to  bring 
in  the  sword,  three  against  two,  two  against 
three.* 

1  Matt.  X.  34-36  ;  Luke  xii.  51-53.  Cf.  Micah  vii.  6. 
See  also  John  xvi.  2  ;  xv.  18-20. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  243 

Thus  Jesus  came  little  by  little  to  the 
point  where  he  could  make  the  highest 
assertions  concerning  himself,  his  work, 
the  future,  the  final  triumph  of  righteous- 
ness and  of  his  own  person.  His  Father 
had  given  him  power  even  to  change  the 
Sabbath.^  Faith  could  do  all  things,^  and 
nature  would  obey  him  who  prayed  and 
believed  as  it  obeyed  Jesus  himself. 

Yet  he  never  claimed  that  he  was  the 
creator  of  the  world  or  its  present  gov- 
ernor; his  highest  claims  were  entirely 
Messianic  :  he  was  one  day  to  judge  and 
renew  the  world.  To  preside  at  the  final 
assizes,  where  all  humanity  would  appear, 
this  was  his  office. 

But  observe  carefully  all  that  this  in- 
cludes. We  are  here  at  the  highest  point. 
Jesus  was  convinced  that  all  who  believed 
in  him  would  receive  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  their  religious  needs  ;  and  we  must  place 
here  his  words  about  himself  in  the  fourth 
Gospel,  although  they  have  evidently 
undergone  remodelling  in  taking  on  the 
Johannine  form.  John,  the  inspirer  and 
fundamentally  the  true  author  of  tliis  book, 

1  Matt.  xii.  8  ;  Luke  vi.  5. 

2  Matt.  vii.  19  f .  ;  Luke  xvii.  0. 


244  JESUS  CHRIST 

shows  the  Christ  as  progressively  revealing 
his  person.  Is  not  this  an  authentic  mem- 
ory of  the  process  which  the  Master  fol- 
lowed with  liis  disciples  ?  John  puts  into 
his  mouth  words  which  perhaps  Jesus  did 
not  always  actually  utter,  but  which  he 
was  convinced  he  might  have  uttered,  and 
which  simply  expressed  what  he  was.  In 
this  St.  John  made  no  mistake.  The 
Christ  of  the  fourth  Gospel  in  no  respects 
overpasses  him  whom  the  Sjoioptists  had 
made  us  perceive.  Jesus  was  indeed  he 
who  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 
"  He  who  hath  seen  him  hath  seen  the 
Father."  i 

This,  then,  is  what  he  thought  of  himself 
at  the  time  when  the  opposition  which  had 
already  been  shown  became  most  violent. 
Men  were  turning  against  him,  and  soon 
they  would  put  him  to  death  ;  his  work 
would  be  interrupted,  his  life  shattered, 
his  projects  brought  to  nothing.  But  out 
of  the  depths  of  his  consciousness  and  the 
certainty  of  divine  Sonship  he  drew  a  new 
conviction  :  "  If  I  die  by  a  violent  death, 
my  death  will  be  the  vital  moment  of  my 
work,  the  crowning  of  the  preparation  for 

1  John  xiv.  6,  9. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  245 

the  coming  of  the  kingdom  ;  out  of  it  will 
come  the  salvation  of  my  people  and  of 
mankind." 

In  this  work,  which  is  neither  dogmatic 
nor  metaphysical  and  in  which  we  confine 
ourselves  to  ascertaining  the  facts,  we  find 
ourselves  led  on,  it  is  evident,  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  facts  which  are  strange  and 
utterly  inexplicable  if  Jesus  was  not  a 
being  apart,  above  and  beyond  humanity 
as  we  know  it.  We  speak  of  his  require- 
ments ;  perhaps  we  would  better  say  his 
requirement,  —  for  he  made  only  one,  which 
includes  all  the  others  :  he  asked  that  men 
should  believe  in  him. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  Jesus  asks  men 
to  believe  like  him,  but  does  not  ask  them 
to  believe  in  him.  No  ;  precisely  the  con- 
trary is  true.  The  facts  are  these  :  Jesus 
never  said,  "  Believe  like  me,"  but,  ''  Be- 
lieve in  me  ;  "  and  he  said  it  most  especially 
at  the  period  of  his  life  at  which  we  have 
arrived. 

At  the  present  time,  among  Christians, 
no  one  believes  precisely  like  Jesus.  Do 
we  believe  like  him  Avhen  he  believed 
that  a  deaf-mute  was  possessed  by  a  demon  ? 
Jesus  adopted  many  of  the  opinions  of  his 


246  JESUS   CHRIST 

time,  and  these  opinions  are  not  always 
ours.  He  was  not  a  theologian;  he  had 
nothing  to  do  with  dogmatics  or  with 
criticism,  for  the  very  simple  reason  that 
these  sciences  did  not  exist  at  the  time  in 
which  he  lived. 

More  than  this  :  in  the  synagogues  and 
at  school  in  Nazareth  he  never  heard  any- 
thing about  religious  doctrines  as  being 
verities  to  be  believed.  Jesus  never  put 
to  himself  such  a  question  as  "  Is  this  doc- 
trine true  ?  "  and  he  liimself  never  formu- 
lated dogmas  of  which  he  said,  "  These 
are  verities  to  be  admitted,"  nor  did  he 
ever  put  to  himself  a  critical  question  con- 
cerning the  religious  affirmations  of  the 
synagogue  ;  nor  did  what  is  to-day  called 
orthodoxy  exist  in  his  time. 

By  orthodoxy  I  mean  opinion  conformed 
to  a  teaching  fixed  by  religious  authority, 
as  opposed  to  heresy,  to  the  opinion  which 
parts  company  with  the  official  and  ac- 
cepted faith,  and  is  in  disaccord  with  it. 
In  the  time  of  Christ  no  one  knew  what  it 
was  to  be  or  not  to  be  orthodox,  no  one 
concerned  himself  with  such  a  matter. 
Thus,  upon  the  most  important  of  questions, 
the  person  of  the  Messiah,  every  one  had 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  247 

his  own  notion.  One  said  he  would  be  a 
political  personage  ;  another  said  he  would 
he  exclusively  religious.  Some  preached 
that  he  would  remain  hidden,  living  humbly 
among  men  ;  others,  that  he  would  sud- 
denly descend  from  heaven  in  his  glory. 
He  will  appear  before  this  or  that,  said 
one  ;  no,  he  will  appear  after  it,  said  an- 
other, etc.  In  this  matter  no  one  had 
the  slightest  notion  of  putting  forth  an 
opinion  which  should  be  final  and  obliga- 
tory ;  and  it  was  thus  with  respect  of  all 
the  doctrines.  No  one  dreamed  of  formu- 
lating them,  and  therefore  we  have  not 
been  able  in  the  preceding  chapters  to  set 
forth  the  teaching  of  Jesus  as  a  doctrine  to 
be  believed;  and  indeed  Jesus  would  not 
have  wished  it. 

Yet  were  there  no  heretics  ?  Assuredly  : 
those  who  did  not  follow  certain  practices. 
A  pious  Jew  did  all  that  tradition  or- 
dained. No  negation  would  put  him  among 
the  number  of  heretics,  but  those  were  re- 
garded with  disfavor  who  did  not  accom- 
plish certain  acts,  did  not  observe  certain 
rites,  to  which  every  one  was  attached.  A 
Sadducee  might  quietly  deny  the  existence 
of  angels,  of  spirits,   and  of  the  invisible 


248  JESUS  CHE] ST 

world  ;  if  he  offered  the  required  sacri- 
fices, if  he  recited  the  Shema,  if  he  ob- 
served the  Sabbath,  he  was  a  Jew  without 
reproach,  and  it  was  certainly  a  much  more 
grave  matter  to  eat  pork  than  to  deny  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  Acts  were  more 
important  than  ideas. 

Never  did  any  Pharisee  take  Jesus  to 
task  for  his  religious  ideas,  —  for,  once 
again,  there  were  no  heretical  religious 
ideas,  —  and  he  was  always  permitted  to 
preach  precisely  what  he  chose.  But  he 
was  taken  to  task  for  breaking  the  Sab- 
bath ;  his  violation  of  it  was  the  great  and 
standing  grievance  of  his  adversaries.  A 
Jew  passed  for  pious  if  he  went  every  year 
to  offer  the  Paschal  lamb,  just  as  the 
Catholic  is  pious  who  does  not  fail  every 
year  to  "  keep  his  Easter." 

Now,  Jesus,  without  precisely  rejecting 
these  practices,  declared  that  they  were  of 
value  only  by  reason  of  the  sentiment  of 
the  heart,  the  inward  faith  which  accom- 
panied them  ;  and  as  to  his  own  religious 
ideas,  he  never  said,  "  Admit  them." 

In  this  chapter,  in  which  we  speak  of 
what  he  required,  we  must  also  say  what 
he  did  not  require. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  249 

Let  us  recall  to  mind  a  few  of  the 
religious  beliefs  of  Jesus:  we  shall  see 
that,  side  by  side  with  imperishable  and 
eternal  verities,  they  include  outworn  ele- 
ments which  were   doomed  to   disappear. 

His  God  was  the  God  of  his  people; 
no  doubt  he  had  such  an  experience  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God,  he  felt  it  so  profoundly 
and  intimately  and  affirmed  it  with  so 
much  power,  that  one  might  say  that  he 
first  gave  it  to  the  world  ;  yet  it  is  none 
the  less  certain  that  he  did  not  create  the 
idea,  and  that  the  Old  Testament  teaches 
the   fatherhood   of   God.^ 

The  same  is  the  case  with  his  notions  of 
sin  and  holiness.  The  Old  Testament 
taught  them  on   every   page. 

These  two  notions  are  thoroughly  He- 
braic. But  it  may  be  said  that  Jesus 
made  them  over,  and,  as  we  have  shown  in 
our  first  volume,  the  notion  of  sin  is 
closely  connected  with  his  appearing.  In 
his  view,  evil  was  getting  the  better  of 
good.  His  generation  was  wholly  bad.'-^ 
He  who  departs  from    God    is  dead  and 

^  See,  for  example,  the  whole  of  Psalm  ciii.  and 
especially  verse  13  and  the  TsaXvas,  passim. 
2  Matt.  vii.  11,  xii.  39  f .,  xvi.  4  ;  Luke  ix.  41, 


250  JESUS  CHRIST 

lost.^  Sin  is  a  debt  contracted  toward 
God,2  and  we  cannot  ourselves  discharge 
it.^  The  sinner  is  a  debtor.  The  seat 
of  evil  is  the  heart.*  Jesus  never  speaks 
of  original  sin,  and  assumes  nothing  innate. 
He  says  that  sin  comes  from  the  de  vil  ^and 
his  suggestions.  The  devil  sows  tares.^ 
Moreover,  evil  comes  from  oui'selves,  from 
our  desires.  The  eye,  the  foot,  the  hand, 
may  cause  us  to  fall  into  sin.*^ 

Jesus,  like  his  contemporaries,  believed 
in  demons.  The  devil  is  very  powerful, 
for  this  world  is  his  kingdom  ;  "  neverthe- 
less he  will  not  prevail.  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  coming.  Temptations  come  from 
Satan,  and  to  say  to  God,  "  Lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  the  evil 
one,"  signifies,  "  Preserve  us  from  situa- 
tions where  the  devil  can  get  a  hold  upon 
us."  Sometimes  Jesus  rebuked  demons 
because  they  recognized  him.^     That  is  to 

1  Luke  XV.  24,  32. 

2  Matt.  v-i.  12.     See  the  Greek  text. 
8  Matt,  xviii.  25  f.  ;  Luke  vii.  41,  42. 

*  Matt.  XV.  17-20,  xvi.  41  ;  Mark  xvii.  21  f. 

5  Matt.  xiii.  19,  25,  38  f.;  Luke  xxii.  31;  John 
viii.  44. 

6  Matt.  v.  30,  xviii.  8  ;  Mark  xi.  43, 

7  Matt.  xii.  20,. 

8  Mark  i.  25;  Luke  iv.  35,  41,  etc. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  251 

say,  that  demons,  being  powers  of  the 
invisible  world,  knew  everything,  and 
among  others  immediately  recognized  the 
Messiah  in  the  humble  form  which  he  had 
chosen.  Jesus  seems  also  to  have  said 
nothing  original  concerning  angels.  He 
always  spoke  of  them  in  the  plural.  They 
were  to  be  the  servitors  of  the  Son  of  man 
at  the  last  judgment.^  They  would  make 
the  great  separation  of  all  men  into  two 
parts.2  Children  had  guardian  angels  in 
heaven. 2  Angels  did  not  know  all 
things.^  The  devil  had  also  his  angels, 
which  were  demons.^  Men  would  be 
with  the  angels  in  heaven.^ 

Jesus,  then,  was  a  man  of  his  time,  and 
he  shared  the  beliefs  of  his  time  concern- 
ing angels,  demons,  the  authenticity  of 
the  Law.  With  regard  to  the  date  of  the 
end  of  the  world  he  may  have  believed, 
he  certainly  did  believe,  that  which  the 
Jews  of  his  age  believed  ;  but  he  nowhere 
tells  us  that  to  be  a  Christian  we  must 
believe  all  that.     To  be  his  disciple,  once 

1  Matt.  xiii.  39,  41,  49. 

2  Matt.  xvi.  27,  xxiv.  31,  xxv.  31  ;  Mark  viii.  38  ; 
Luke  xii.  22. 

8  Matt,  xviii.  10.  *  Mark  xiii.  32. 

5  Matt.  XXV.' 41.  6  Mark  xii.  25. 


252  JESUS    CHRIST 

again  we  repeat,  one  must  follow  him, 
live  his  life,  enter  into  communion  with 
him,  —  a  very  different  thing. 

Let  us  also  take  notice  that  Jesus  never 
gave  commandments  of  his  own  which 
were  to  replace  the  ordinances  of  the 
Law.  He  confined  himself  to  prescribing 
the  commandments  of  the  Old  Testament.^ 

That  is  to  say,  he  no  more  gave  us 
duties  to  learn  than  doctrines  to  believe. 
He  simply  taught  that  whosoever  is  pene- 
trated with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel  will 
practise  the  gospel.  To  love  God  is  the 
great  means  of  changing  the  direction  of 
one's  life.  Therefore  the  Lord's  Prayer 
begins  with  the  hallowing  of  the  name  of 
God;  and  to  love  God  men  must  love 
Jesus,  and  believe  in  Jesus. 

The  confidence  in  himself  which  Jesus 
required  rested  upon  the  consciousness  of 
his  moral  perfection,  — a  consciousness  all 
the  more  remarkable  that  it  appeared  in  a 
world  wlych  had  but  small  moral  develop- 
ment. Nothing  shows  a  general  moral 
progress  among  the  Jews  of  the  first  cen- 
tury.    In  this  regard  Jesus  was  not  con- 

1  Matt.  V.  19,  XV.  4,  xix.  17  f.,  and  parallel  passages; 
Luke  p.  25  f .  ;  John  xiv.  15,  21,  xv.  12  f.. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  253 

nected  with  the  past  ;  he  who  was  bound 
to  it  by  so  many  ties  of  all  kinds  was  not 
held  to  it  by  this  tie.  He  was  in  no  respect 
the  last  term  of  an  evolution  of  the  moral 
progress  of  his  people  ;  and  it  was  because 
he  was  fully  convinced  of  his  moral  supe- 
riority, of  his  perfect  holiness,  that  he  asked 
his  own  to  follow  him. 

Jesus,  then,  brings  to  us  no  list  of  beliefs 
to  confess  and  of  dogmas  to  subscribe  to  ; 
but  he  does  tell  us  what  we  must  do  to 
become  his  disciples. 

It  is  very  remarkable  that  he  is  true  to 
the  Jewish  spirit,  in  giving  to  his  disciples, 
not  ideas  to  accept,  but  acts  to  perform. 

The  error  of  those  persons  is  then  plain 
who  believe  that  to  decide  what  is  Chris- 
tian doctrine  we  must  begin  by  making 
perfectly  evident  the  thought  of  Jesus 
Christ.  They  fancy  that  Jesus  brought  to 
us  doctrines  to  believe,  which  must  have 
for  us  an  exterior  authority,  a  canon.  Cer- 
tain Protestants  are  disposed  to  say,  "  The 
sayings  of  Jesus  Christ  are  our  Bible, 
our  infallible  authority,  in  the  plenary  in- 
spiration of  which  we  believe.  We  carve 
out  our  Bible  from  within  the  Bible,  and 
the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ  are  for  us 


254  JESUS   CHRIST 

what  the  whole  Bil)le  was  for  the  theop- 
neusties  of  former  times."  ^ 

Not  at  all  ;  for  Jesus  asks  of  liis  own 
only  to  believe  in  him,  to  follow  him,  to 
love  one  another,  to  bear  their  cross  after 
him,  to  put  their  trust  in  him  ;  and  it  is  a 
grave  error  to  picture  Jesus  as  giving  us 
a  doctrine  independent  of  his  person,  and 
bringing  us  a  complete  and  logical  system. 
He  never  formulated  abstract  truths  wliich 
must  be  accepted  by  an  intellectual  opera- 
tion. He  never  demands  beliefs,  but  con- 
fidence in  himself  ;  and  by  this  confidence 
he  creates  a  new  life  in  the  soul,  a  reli- 
gious and  moral  life,  communion  with  God. 

We  who  repel  the  notion  of  exterior  au- 
thority of  the  Bible,  saying,  "  It  is  to  Jesus 
Christ  that  we  must  go," — are  we  replacing 
the  authority  of  the  Bible  with  that  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  No  doubt.  Only  we  must  clearly 
understand  what  we  mean  by  the  words 
"the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ."  The 
only  way  of  understanding  them  is  by 
asking  what  Jesus  himself  wanted  us  to 
understand  by  liis  authority.  He  cer- 
tainly meant  by  it  nothing  else  than  con- 

1  I  admit  the  supposition  that  the  sayings  of  Jesus 
are  all  authentic,  which  has  first  to  be  demonstrated. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  255 

fidence  in  him.  The  authority  of  others 
is  made  of  the  confidence  with  which 
they  inspire  us.  It  can  be  made  of  noth- 
ing else  unless  it  is  to  be  made  of  material 
force,  which  cannot  here  be  in  question.^ 

1  The  religion  of  Jesus,  Cliristianity,  is,  then,  not  a 
system  of  religious  truths  which  we  are  invited  to 
believe.  Very  many  persons  think  that  faith  is  noth- 
ing else  than  adhesion  to  a  certain  number  of  doc- 
trines. This  wholly  intellectual  conception  is  that  of 
Catholicism,  from  which  Protestant  orthodoxy  has  not 
yet  been  able  to  free  itself.  In  consequence,  to  believe 
in  the  teaching  of  the  Church  is  to  be  a  Christian,  and 
in  virtue  of  this  wholly  Catholic  notion  the  orthodox 
Protestant  Synods  have  not  confined  themselves  to 
setting  forth  that  which  for  them  is  Christian  doc- 
trine (that  is,  their  diity),  but  have  insisted  that  men 
shall  give  adhesion  to  the  confession  of  faith  which 
they  have  formulated.  As  if  aware  of  the  error  which 
they  are  committing,  they  are  now  making  these 
Symbols  as  short  as  possible,  reducing  them  to  a  more 
or  less  scanty  minimum.  But,  minimum  or  not,  they 
commit  an  error.  They  confound  faith  with  intellec- 
tual adhesion  to  ready-made  truths,  formulated  by  the 
Church  or  its  representatives.  Now,  if  there  is  one 
certitude  which  stands  out  with  evidence  from  all  that 
in  this  book  we  have  heard  Jesus  say,  it  is  that  faith  is 
an  act  of  the  moral  life,  that  its  object  is  the  person 
of  the  Christ,  and  that  by  faith  each  one  enters  into 
personal  contact  with  him.  Each  Christian  who  has 
faith  appropriates  the  Christ  to  himself,  and  should 
remain  faithful  to  him,  however  much  his  dogmatic 
conceptions  may  become  modified.  Hence  it  results 
that  faith   in  Jesus   Christ  may  live,  develop,  and 


256  J£SUS   CHRIST 

It  will  perhaps  be  said:  Of  little  conse- 
quence indeed  are  the  pm-ely  intellectual 

triumph,  whatever  may  be  the  believer's  dogmatic 
notions.  Men  smile  at  faith  independent  of  belief, 
because  they  do  not  know  what  it  is.  But  it  is  not  we 
wlio  invented  it,  but  Jesus  himself  wlio  taught  it  ;  and 
this  notion  is  all  the  more  certainly  historic  because 
it  is  in  accord  with  the  Jewish  society  in  the  midst  of 
which  it  arose.  We  have  said  that  in  this  society  the 
idea  mattered  little.  Men  believed  this  or  that  with 
the  intellect,  but  they  cared  only  for  the  rite 
performed. 

No  doubt  Jesus  transformed  this  way  of  looking  at 
things  ;  he  cared  nothing  for  the  rite  ;  for  example,  he 
broke  the  Sabbath,  but  he  replaced  the  rite  by  his  own 
person.  He  cared  for  only  one  thing,  he  insisted  on 
only  one  thing,  but  he  insisted  on  this  with  great 
rigor,  —  that  men  should  attach  themselves  to  him, 
live  and  die  for  him,  unite  themselves  to  him  by  a 
deep  and  living  faith,  by  a  moral  act  which  binds 
their  whole  being  to  him.    The  rest  matters  little. 

Thus  we  escape  from  the  objection  which  has  been 
made  to  our  way  of  thinking.  It  has  been  said  : 
"  Faith  independent  of  belief  means  nothing.  Faith 
must  have  an  object."  No  doubt,  we  reply  ;  and  its 
object  is  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Faith  is  not, 
then,  a  purely  subjective  sentiment,  but  it  is  independ- 
ent of  historical  beliefs,  for  which  study  is  necessary. 
What  would  the  laborer,  the  peasant,  the  uncultured 
man  do,  if  in  order  to  have  saving  f aitli  he  must  inves- 
tigate facts,  that  is,  pursue  a  course  of  study  ?  A 
purely  historic  event,  M.  Lachelier  well  says,  (a)  can- 
not be  an  object  of  faith,  precisely  because  it  is  his- 
toric, and  by  this  quality  an  object  of  knowledge. 

(a)  See  ante,  page  1)4. 


DURING  BIS  MINISTRY  257 

beliefs  of  Jesus.  He  was  ignorant  of  sci- 
entific discoveries  which  we  have  made 
and  are  making  every  day;  he  knew 
nothing  of  modern  astronomy,  neither 
had  he  our  theological  knowledge;  but 
he  had  an  opinion  about  liimself,  and 
when  he  asks  men  to  believe  in  him, 
does  he  mean  by  that,  believe  in  what 
he  thinks  about  himself? 

No;  for  the  two  notions  are  different. 
A  child  who  believes  in  his  father,  who 
has  confidence  in  liim,  does  not  necessarily 
believe  what  his  father  tliinks  about  him- 
self. Most  generally  he  does  not  know, 
and  perhaps  could  not  even  understand, 
what  he  thinks.  His  father  may  consider 
himself  a  genius,  and  may  be  mistaken  ; 
the  child,  has  confidence  simply  because  liis 
father  is  good  and  strong,  takes  care  of 
him,  gives  him  his  daily  bread,  watches 
over  him.  He  knows  of  his  father  that 
of  which  he  has  had  experience,  and  even 
about  this  he  does  not  reason;  he  feels 
instinctively  that  his  confidence  in  his 
father  is  well  placed:  that  is  all.  He 
cannot  know  anything  that  lies  outside 
of  this  feeling  and  confidence.  A  truth 
wliich  has  been  neither  experienced  nor 
17 


258  JESUS   CHRIST 

lived  remains  beyond  us,  and  is  for  us  as 
if  it  were  not.^  The  child's  confidence 
of  which  I  speak  rests,  then,  solely  upon 
practical  experience  such  as  is  within  the 
powers  of  the  child.  He  believes  in  his 
father's  authority  because  his  father  in- 
spires him  with  confidence  and  he  has 
felt  his  authority. 

Later,  when  he  is  at  an  age  to  reason 
and  reflect,  he  may  be  able  to  conclude, 
from  what  he  knows  and  from  what  he 
has  seen,  that  his  father  is  this  or  that. 
This  will  be  a  doctrine  about  his  father; 
but  before  formulating  this  doctrine  he 
will  have  lived  by  his  faith,  will  have 
been  happy  in  it,  will  have  been  his 
father's  disciple,  will  have  obeyed  him 
even  in  things  which  he  has  not  always 
understood. 

In  the  same  way  we,  if  we  consider  our- 
selves competent  to  discern  in  the  words 
of  Jesus  about  himself  any  affirmations 
which  explain  what  he  is,  which  aid  us 
to  understand  the  source  of  the  good  he 
has  done  us,  to  comprehend  the  cause  of 

1  "En  religion  toute  ve'rité  hors  de  nous  n'est  ni 
possédée  ni  connue."  Vinet,  Nouvelles  Etudes  évangé- 
liques,  second  edition,  page  368. 


DURING  HIS  MINIS  TS  7  259 

the  salvation  we  have  found  in  him  and 
experienced  in  our  souls,  very  well,  let  us 
try!  Let  us  be  theologians,  for  it  is  the 
business  of  theologians  to  discuss  these 
things. 

Some  one  may  say  that  Jesus  was  simply 
a  holy  man,  and  that  his  divinity  was 
purely  moral.  Another  may  discover  in 
him  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity,  as 
the  Athanasian  Symbol  sets  him  forth. 
The  latter  may,  perhaps,  be  right  :  we  pre- 
judge nothing,  we  condemn  a  priori  no 
formula,  no  dogmatic  decree  of  the  Church. 
We  only  say  that  all  that  comes  after 
faith  in  Jesus  and  assurance  of  salvation 
possessed  in  him.  The  drowning  man 
clings  to  his  savior,  holds  fast  to  him, 
makes  himself  one  with  him,  and  after- 
ward, when  he  is  saved,  he  may  put  to 
himself  questions  about  his  savior,  and 
ask  himself  who  this  may  be  who  was 
strong  enough  to  save  him  ;  but  he  began 
by  having  confidence  in  him.  Intellectual 
theories  come  afterward;  and  the  simple 
believer  who  has  not  time  to  study,  and 
who  neither  can  nor  ought  to  accept 
blindly  the  teachings  of  the  Church, 
experiences    the    salvation    which    is     in 


260  JESUS  CHRIST 

Jesus  Christ,  and  says,  "Whether  this 
man  be  a  sinner  or  not,  I  know  not: 
one  thing  I  know:  whereas  I  was  blind, 
now  I  see."  ^ 

1  John  ix.  16. 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  261 


CONCLUSION 

"\^7"E  have  contemplated  Jesus,  have 
sought  to  see  him  as  he  was,  to 
hear  him  as  entirely  and  as  truly  as  pos- 
sible ;  we  have  tried  to  know  him  :  but 
it  was  impossible  for  our  curiosity  to  re- 
main disinterested.  Yet  it  must  do  so, 
says  the  historian,  if  you  desire  a  perfectly 
authentic  testimony  and  a  perfectly  faith- 
ful picture.  We  cannot  consent  to  con- 
sider such  a  position  the  true  one.  The 
abstraction  of  the  intellect  is  always 
withering  to  the  heart,  and  how  shall  we 
admit  that  in  this  case  the  heart  has  not 
its  word  to  say  ?  To  confine  ourselves  to 
saying  of  Jesus,  "  I  admire  him,"  without 
saying  to  him,  "  I  believe  in  thee,"  —  would 
not  this  be  to  condemn  ourselves  before- 
hand to  have  only  a  sterile  acquaintance 
with  him,  insufficient  and  incomplete  ? 

But  how  shall  we  reach  the  point  of 
saying  "  I  believe  "  ?  Historical  testimony 
cannot  suffice  :    it  is  impossible  to  prove 


262  JESUS   CHRIST 

irrefutably  that  Christianity  is  true. 
Formerly  men  based  their  apologetic  on 
the  miracles,  and  the  prophecies  that 
were  supposed  to  have  come  true  ;  but 
this  method  is  outworn  and  absolutely 
overthrown. 

Shall  we,  then,  attempt  to  show  that 
Christianity  is  true  because  it  responds 
to  the  needs  of  the  human  soul,  and  be- 
cause there  is  a  pre-established  harmony 
between  man  and  the  gospel  ?  Vinet  was 
the  eloquent  and  fully  persuaded  defender 
of  this  sort  of  apologetic.  But  is  it 
entirely  adapted  to  the  present  require- 
ments of  thought?  Can  it  restore  in  our 
modern  world  belief  in  the  Biblical  reve- 
lation and  in  Christian  verities  ?  Many 
dispute  it. 

Yet  the  subjective  method  is  the  only 
possible  method  to-day.  We  must  adhere 
closely  to  moral  truth,  —  never  call  evil 
good  and  good  evil  :  keep  and  conserve  the 
great  and  unassailable  certitudes,  cling  to 
them,  and  never  on  any  pretext  or  for  any 
reason  let  go  of  this  plank  of  safety. 
Here  effort  is  necessary.  Men  must  will, 
—  must  will  never  to  sacrifice  conscience, 
will  to  remain  faitliful  to  duty,  will  to  do 


DURING  HIS  MINISTRY  263 

what  Jesus  called  the  will  of  God.^  Then 
one  has  faith.  This  faith  is  an  act  of  will, 
but  it  is  not  blind  ;  it  is  the  faith  born  of 
the  experience  of  him  whose  eyes  have 
been  opened. 

It  is  impossible  to  prove  that  Jesus  was 
not  a  "  sinner  ;  "  but  I  would  say  to  the 
non-believer,  it  is  impossible  for  you  to 
prove  to  me  that  he  was  one.  And  that 
is  sufficient  for  me,  for  "  whereas  I  was 
blind,  now  I  see."  ^  I  admit  that  my  ex- 
perience is  wholly  subjective  ;  but  pre- 
cisely because  it  is  subjective  it  is  sufficient 
for  me,  for  it  is  I  who  have  had  it. 

But  it  must  be  had  ;  and  let  Christians 
not  forget  that  they  are  strong  only  so 
far  as  they  are  extraordinary  men,  super- 
natural men.  The  affirmation  of  the  su- 
pernatural on  their  lips  is  useless  if  the 
supernatural  does  not  blaze  forth  in  their 
lives.  The  great  objection  to  Christianity 
is  precisely  this,  —  the  insufficiency  of 
Christian  lives.  When  Christians  show 
that  Jesus  Christ  has  changed  them,  that 
the  preaching  of  the  preparation  of  the 
kingdom  by  the  renewing  of  hearts  is  as 
powerful   as  formerly,  then  Jesus  Christ 

1  John  vii.  17.  ^  John  ix.  25. 


264  JESUS    CHRIST 

himself  will  be  proved  ;  his  gospel  will  be 
saved. 

During  his  entire  ministiy,  whatever 
might  be  the  passing  events  and  the  ex- 
ternal circumstances  of  Ms  life,  Jesus  was 
absolutely  and  irrefragably  convinced  that 
righteousness  would  triumph,  that  goodness 
would  be  conqueror,  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  would  come.  This  conviction  was 
the  strength  and  joy  of  his  life.  To  this 
certitude  was  joined  another,  ever  growing 
brighter  and  stronger  in  his  soul,  that 
the  triumph  of  righteousness,  of  the  right 
and  the  good,  would  be  brought  about  by 
him,  and  that  he  should  be  the  hero  of 
the  victory  to  come. 

In  presence  of  such  a  being,  a  being 
who  had  such  moral  greatness  and  such 
compassion,  who  possessed  so  absolute  a 
conviction,  who  made  such  unheard-of 
demands,  who  showed  so  entire  a  devotion, 
and  who  enjoyed  a  life  in  God  and  by  him 
so  deep,  ^so  intense,  so  evidently  certain, 
the  exclamation  of  Thomas  is  not  too 
strong  ;  it  bursts  from  our  hearts  and  lips  ; 
we  utter  to  Jesus  this  cry  of  obedience 
and  adoration,  "  My  Lord  and  my  God  I  "  ^ 

1  John  XX.  28. 


DURING   HIS  MINISTRY  265 

I  close  this  second  volume  at  the  arrival 
of  Jesus  at  Jerusalem  for  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles,  in  the  beginning  of  the  month 
of  October  in  the  year  29.  There  remains 
for  me  to  describe  the  few  months  which 
preceded  his  death,  his  trial,  his  execution, 
and,  finally,  his  life  beyond  the  tomb,  his 
resurrection.  This  will  be  the  subject  of 
a  third  volume  ;  and  thus  I  shall  complete 
the  treatment  of  the  three  questions  which 
my  general  title  presupposes,  —  the  person, 
the  authority,  and  the  work  of  Jesus,  — 
questions  to  which,  as  I  hope,  many  pages 
of  the  present  volume  have  already  made 
answer. 


Date  Due 

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Jesus  Christ  during  His  ministry, 

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